


rage and ruin

by MaddyBee



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Mutant Reader, Reader-Insert, Romance, powers of invisibility and phasing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:20:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 31,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23793016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaddyBee/pseuds/MaddyBee
Summary: You're an enhanced with the powers of invisibility and phasing, trained to be both a legendary spy and a ruthless soldier in a military school, now a member of the Avengers.You'd think you'd have bigger problems than falling for your best friend, Steve, but turns out you don't. At least, you didn't until Tony decided to create the murder-bot Ultron. Good thing you're an excellent multi-tasker.(follows basic storyline of Age of Ultron, reader-insert fic)
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Reader
Comments: 8
Kudos: 86





	1. snowdrift

**Author's Note:**

> What can I say, I've been binge watching Marvel throughout quarantine and I felt inspired! I have a whole backstory and some other ideas for this character in a potential sequel, so watch this space.
> 
> Also, I'm trying to improve my dialogue and action writing skills so go easy on me, but appreciate any advice!
> 
> Character profile: https://weheartit.com/articles/342308936-marvel-oc-spectre
> 
> Story title taken from Bad Moon Rising (Mourning Ritual Version).
> 
> Anyway, enjoy!

“Steve, duck!”

The yelled warning had barely left your lips before the Captain hunched in his seat, granting you a clear shot at the soldier making a dive for him. One bullet straight to the hip and the soldier was down, Steve veering off to the left towards a small huddle of enemies with a quick call of gratitude.

Lowering your gun, you had to quickly latch onto the pole in front of you as Nat bounced the jeep over a ditch without slowing down. Just about managing to keep your footing, you raised the assault rifle to fire over Clint’s shoulder as he shot arrow after arrow at the men coming towards you. It was a bumpy ride, and the back of the jeep was really too small for both you and Clint to maneuver in, so in a brief moment of ceasefire you swung forwards into the passenger seat, covering Natasha as she barrelled through the guards sent to stop you.

They weren’t doing a very good job.

Standing on the seat, you aimed for the front wheel of the car trying to ram you off the road, sending it careening off into a small bunker, the resulting explosion causing you to grin in triumph. Your sensitive ears then picked up a familiar whistle, and you crouched rapidly, the whoosh of Thor’s hammer sailing over your head close enough to have your hair whip in the sudden wind.

Standing again, you shot a glare at the God of Thunder, who merely gave a sheepish laugh before disappearing in a crackle of thunder. Rolling your eyes, you realised Natasha was headed straight for a barrier, and as the car swung to the side you stepped on to the hood, propelling yourself over the barricade. Rolling to embrace the impact, you were back up and shooting in a split second, Nat dancing around you as you double teamed the opposition.

“Shit!” Tony suddenly exclaimed, and you glanced up to see him bounce off the side of the building up ahead. You snorted in amusement, punching a guy in the throat without hesitation.

“Language!”

Scoffing, you and Natasha made eye contact over the men between you with matching amused expressions in fond disbelief over Steve.

“Tony, please, think of Steve’s innocent ears!” you playfully admonished, sensing the glare from Steve across the field as you slashed through a man's thigh, using him as a springboard when he ducked over in pain to wrap your legs around another man’s neck and squeeze tightly.

Steve ignored you, instead talking to JARVIS about the seemingly impenetrable base. This was an important mission, a chance to finally reclaim Loki’s sceptre after chasing cold leads for months on end. Despite the importance, you heartily agreed with Natasha when she said that it was taking too long.

A solo mission the week before had seen you battered badly, and you’d only been allowed to come on this mission because of its importance - you were technically supposed to be on bed rest still. You had stolen classified information from an arms dealer in Dubai, and received a ragged gash in the thigh for your trouble. You were pretty certain you were starting to feel blood seep through the bandage as your combat trousers stuck to your leg. Not that you were going to say anything, as Steve would only banish you to the quinjet the second you spoke up, and you were bored of bed rest enough already without being sentenced to further recovery time. After all, he was the one who said you were to hang back and shoot rather than partake in hand to hand combat that could rupture your stitches. You hated when he was right.

So you sucked it up with gritted teeth and sheathed your knife in favour of one of the enemy's heavy rifles, using a small hill as a vantage point to pick them off one by one as they attempted to storm your teammates on the ground. It was going well, only a few stragglers managing to make it near enough to you that you had to kick their asses, letting Steve and Tony storm the tower and do the heavy lifting.

“Clint’s hurt pretty bad you guys, we’re gonna need evac.”

You took a step to the left to get a better shot at an enemy attempting to hide behind a tree when a shot of pain had you glancing down, finally registering the fact that the material of your trousers was soaked with blood. You mumbled a curse under your breath and pressed your comms to reply to Natasha.

“Yeah, think I might tag along, pretty sure this blood is supposed to be in my body, not on the floor.”

You could almost feel the angry disapproval that rolled off Steve, and the upcoming reprimand that would undoubtedly come with it.

“I’ll take Barton to the jet. Y/N, can you walk?” Thor’s voice crackled through the radio, and you took a tentative step to test your leg before replying to him. “

Yeah, I’m good, I’ll meet you back at the jet.”

Firing off a couple more shots to clear your immediate area, you realised that the party seemed to have moved on anyway. Dropping the stolen weapon, you activated your powers and turned invisible in the blink of an eye. You’d made it all of ten steps when you realised your neat trick was pretty pointless when there was a very visible blood trail behind you. You harrumphed in irritation but pressed on, figuring that at least this way the enemy would have to be pretty close to see you and so you were less likely to be taken by surprise. Unfortunately, the designated evac point was further than you’d initially thought, and by the time the jet came into view you were sweaty and limping slightly, hands shaking a little as you dropped your invisibility with a sigh of relief that you could now focus your energy on not passing out from blood loss.

In retrospect, you should probably have hung back and sniped.

Thor waited on the ramp of the jet, eyes snapping to you the second you became visible once more, graze dropping immediately to the blood that saturated the snow at your feet.

“Steve will not be pleased you disobeyed him,” the God called out cheerily, appearing at your side to offer an arm and help you hobble onto the aircraft.

“Yeah, I’m in for a serious lecture,” you replied, sighing again at the thought. You forgot about your woes quickly upon seeing Clint though, and you let go of Thor to inspect the archer’s wound as he lay, groaning quietly on the table.

“I’m pretty sure lecturing us is Cap’s favourite hobby,” he grunted with a smirk, shifting about in discomfort. Thor had covered the wound to stem the flow of blood, and you peeled the dressing back gently to inspect it as you laughed.

“Yeah, I don’t doubt that. And somehow, it always seems to be me and you on the receiving end,” you agreed, cleaning the wound as best you could with limited supplies before dressing and wrapping it.

“Because we specialise in being irritating as hell.”

“Damn straight.”

You grinned at each other, his face pale and sweaty but still amused. Satisfied that he wasn’t going to bleed out on the flight back, you attached an IV and picked up a needle, carefully finding a vein before smiling at him gently.

“Think it’s time you got some sleep there, Beaky.”

Clint gave a half-hearted grunt in reply, the adrenaline having worn off and the medication taking immediate effect to send him to sleep. Now it was time to focus on you. Rooting through the overnight bag in your locker you pulled out a pair of workout shorts, casting a quick glance out of the quinjet to ensure Thor wasn’t going to walk in the second you pulled your trousers off. Pulling your combat trousers off was tricky, the breathable yet heavy material stuck tightly to your leg, and you had to remind yourself to breathe as you eased them off inch by inch. Once you were in your shorts, you took a med kit from under the table and sat on one of the benches, swinging your leg up to assess the damage.

As you’d done for Clint, you wiped away the blood, sterilised the wound, and bandaged yourself up, gritting your teeth to stop from yelping. You were barefoot, curled up in the pilot’s chair radiong Dr Cho when you heard the voices of your teammates approaching. You finished your explanation of Clint’s status and spun the chair to face them. Bruce trudged in first, looking as drained as you felt, and you limped forward to hand him his headphones, receiving a tired smile of gratitude.

Behind him, Nat immediately began checking Clint’s vitals and you stepped up to her side.

“He’s stopped bleeding, and Dr Cho’s gonna be ready and waiting for him at the tower.”

Nat nodded, satisfied, and turned to look you up and down, reaching out to gently tuck in the corner of your bandage.

“And you?”

You waved her off, feeling less light headed now the painkillers were kicking in.

“I’ll be fine, Cho said she’d fix me up with her Cradle thing seeing as she’s bringing it anyway.”

“Oh, well then please, take more stupid risks and ignore my direct orders.” Steve called out over his shoulder from where he was putting away his shield and helmet.

You rolled your eyes at an amused Nat and walked over to Steve, taking a seat by his side as Tony prepared for take off.

“I’m sorry ok, you were right and I should have kept my distance,” you began earnestly as he nodded in approval, “but I was also right in that you needed my help and although you are my Captain, you don’t decide what risks I do or do not take.”

“Are you-”

“Besides,” you interrupted with a sly grin, “we both know it’s exactly the kind of thing you’ve both already done, and would still do.”

Steve snapped his mouth shut, expression pissed off before it melted into amusement, a grin tugging the corner of his mouth.

“Yeah alright, smartass. But if you bleed out on a future mission after going against my orders again, I’m kicking your insolent ass to the dirt.”

You grinned at each other for a moment, then leant back into your seats to debrief with the team as you flew back to New York, the smile stuck on your face the whole way home.

\----

By the time you left your room again, the sky was dark and the tower was quiet. Dr Cho had taken care of the wound in your leg with her crazy machine, and now all that was left was a tiny scar that would apparently heal within a few weeks tops. She had sent you to sleep off the blood loss with some very effective pain killers, and your short nap had actually ended up being about 7 hours of you, starfished and drooling slightly beneath the sheets.

You felt much better, the dizziness and pain long gone and replaced with some serious hunger. As you padded into the kitchen in your pj’s, you were surprised to see Natasha and Steve sat either side of the counter with mugs of tea. They both looked up and smiled as you lingered in the doorway for a split second before wiggling your fingers in greeting and rooting through your cupboard for the emergency supply of Cookie Crisp you knew was hidden in there somewhere.

“How’re you feeling?” called Steve, easy smile betrayed by the underlying concern in his voice. Pulling out a bowl and the milk, you hopped onto the stool next to Nat and nodded, mouth already full of a handful of dry cereal you’d stuffed in. The two shook their head in amusement as you tried to swallow quickly.

“So much better, Helen is a witch,” you answered, munching happily before looking around in playful suspicion, “are we sure she’s not enhanced?”

“Nope, she’s just a genius,” Nat commented drily, stealing a handful of cereal from the box to nibble delicately while you shoveled in spoon after spoon, completely unabashed. “The party’s on for Friday night so we’re going dress shopping tomorrow.”

You blinked slowly at the sudden command, spoon halfway to your mouth, and Steve chuckled softly as your sleep-addled mind caught up. You loved Natasha, you didn’t trust anyone else in the world with your life the way you did her, but shopping with her was genuinely terrifying. It involved strict schedules and lots of parading around in outfits until she finally deemed an option satisfactory.

“Well, sounds like you two have a fun day planned,” Steve smirked, ignoring the look of betrayal you immediately gave him.

Before you could come up with an excuse, Nat continued speaking, aware that you were about to try and weasel your way out of it. “We’re meeting in the garage at 11, no excuses. We both know what I’ll do to you if you aren’t there.”

Huffing, you reluctantly shut your mouth, glaring at the redhead as she called out to JARVIS to set an alarm for you. Steve caught your eye as you turned back around, him laughing at your pain as usual.

“Well, I’m off to bed, good night,” the blonde announced, placing his empty mug in the sink. “Good luck,” he whispered to you as he walked past, and you just about managed to slap him on the arm before he disappeared around the corner, laughing to himself.

You swiveled your stool back to continue eating when you noticed Natasha giving you the look. That sly, cattish grin and knowing stare as she leant her chin on her palm was pure predatory, and it always meant trouble.

“No.”

You ate the last of the cereal and quickly got up to start putting things away, still able to feel her silent stare on the back of your head. You ignored her, washing up your bowl and spoon, doing Steve’s mug as an afterthought, before the discomfort finally made you squirm.

“What?” you demanded, spinning to pin her with what you hoped was a stern glare but was more likely a desperate one.

“Just wondering when you and Wonder Boy are going to fuck and get over this stifling sexual tension.”

If you’d been drinking, you would have spat it all over her as you spluttered in indignation, stammering through a denial that wouldn’t convince anyone, let alone the best spy you knew.

“Nat, seriously, I don’t like him! Not like that anyway, I mean sure I can appreciate him aesthetically because have you seen him, but I don’t like him!”

Your protests just made Nat smirk wider, but she seemed to take pity on you in your flustered state, and picked up her full mug to walk past you with an affectionate squeeze to the wrist. “Sorry, I’ll drop it,” she called over her shoulder, stopping to throw you a wink before the elevator door closed behind her, “after all, I have all day tomorrow to make you confess!”

You gaped at the closed doors in disbelief, regretting ever coming into the kitchen. You’d been planning on maybe doing a workout or watching a film, but instead you went straight back to bed in an attempt to prepare for the long day you were about to have.

\----

You could have kissed the floor of the living room in happiness when you finally, finally, made it back home after the longest day of shopping you ever remembered being a part of. You were laden with bags as, in typical Natasha fashion, you weren’t just there to get a dress, no, you were getting an outfit. Jewelry, shoes, makeup, nail polish, lingerie, you had it all. Tony and Steve both laughed at the sheer relief on your face from where they sat on the sofas watching a documentary.

“I’ll meet you in the training room in half an hour, myshka.”

You glared at Nat as she strutted down the hall with her iced coffee and smug face. Dropping your bags with a thud, you groaned noisily and clambered over the back of the sofa to throw yourself down on the cushions, tophalf sprawled pathetically over Steve’s lap.

“Hard day at the office, dear?” Tony joked, getting up and going to the kitchen only to come back a minute later with a coffee that he placed on the table in front of you. Reinvigorated by the promise of caffeine, you leapt up to cradle the mug and inhale deeply.

“Tony, have I ever mentioned that you are my favourite human?”

He laughed, sitting back down and resuming whatever he was doing on his tablet. “Oh quit making me blush, darling, you’ll make the captain jealous.”

You snorted, turning to Steve who was rolling his eyes and shaking his head.

“Aww, Steve knows he’s my second favourite,” you teased with a punch on the shoulder.

“I carried you for nearly two hours when you tripped on a rock and sprained your ankle in Morocco, I better be your favourite,” he quipped back, glancing away from the tv to shoot you a wink and a smirk.

“I had to carry her back to land when she destroyed the speedboat trying to disarm that pirate in Germany.”

“Well in New Zealand I-”

“OK, I don’t like this game, neither of you are my favourites anymore, from now on Fury is my closest friend and you lot are just colleagues.” You interrupted, leaving the men to laugh to themselves as you collected your abandoned bags and headed back to your room to change, embarrassed by their recap of some of your ‘finest’ moments.

Two hours later, and you were groaning in misery after having your ass handed to you in your spar against Natash. Ignoring Dr Cho’s warning that you needed to take it easy for a day or two, she’d pummeled you into the floor while bombarding you with even more questions about Steve.

As promised, she had repeatedly bought up your relationship with Steve throughout the day, despite you consistently changing the subject every time. You were trying on what felt like the 500th dress of the day in a nice boutique when you finally gave in.

“I’m just saying, your speciality may be stealth but you are incredibly unsubtle with the doe eyes you always shoot at Steve, and the way you constantly find excuses to touch him, and how you look like you’re about to pounce on him when he wears those sweatpants that hug his ass just right-”

“OK!” you exclaimed, loud enough that the shop assistant across the store turned to you with an accusing glare that had you sheepishly waving and mouthing ‘sorry’. Then you sighed and dropped to sit on the chaise lounge across from Natasha, staring at your hands rather than her as you began to talk.

“Ok, I like him. I have for a while. I don’t know when it happened, I just realised one day that I can’t imagine my life without him.”

Nat sobered, sensing your futility.

“So why haven’t you done something about it? He likes you too, Y/N, it’s obvious to everyone that the two of you are like sappy lovesick puppies around each other.”

You heaved another sigh, fixing your friend with a weak, defeated smile.

“I know he likes me too, I’m not blind. At first I thought I was maybe seeing what I wanted, but now I know. That’s not the problem though.”

Nat stayed silent, just raising an eyebrow as a prompt to continue. “It’s just that we both have serious baggage, and the job comes first to both of us. I have trust issues, and he has Peggy, and I just don’t see how it could work between us, no matter how much I want it to.”

It was quiet after your confession, the distant sounds of the street and the other customers seemingly a world away as Nat stared at you, and you stared at the floor.

“You know I love you, myshka, but you’re a fucking idiot.”

Taken aback, you shot her a confused look as she rolled her eyes and smothered a laugh. “It’s the corniest line in the book, but in our line of work, you can’t focus on what might go wrong or why something might not work out because who knows what mission’s gonna be our last. If there is even a chance you and him can be happy, you both deserve to give it a go. You can work through the baggage together, I mean, who doesn’t have shit they carry with them? And Peggy? Honestly? Yes, he loved her, and yes he still does, but not in the same way he used to. Don’t use her as an excuse to not go for this because you’re scared you’re going to sabotage your chance at happiness if you give into your feelings.”

You mulled over her words, shock on your face.

“How is it that you know me better than I do and actually managed to convince me to go for it?”

She shrugged, checking her lipstick in the mirror.

“It’s a skill of mine. Plus, I think you would both be a lot more tolerable if you just got on with it and fucked.”

And now here you were, and you felt good to have finally admitted out loud what you’d been stamping down in the back of your mind for months. You were sore and aching from the training, but Nat had given you all sorts of tips and tricks to try out at the party in a few days time, and now you were happy to distract yourself with work for the next 48 hours so you didn’t overthink it and talk yourself out of it.

You practically skipped into the lab, smiling to yourself as you flicked through your notes and ideas for a new training simulation.

“Hey, Tony, do we-” You cut yourself off, halting suddenly as you took in the scene in front of you. Bruce and Tony were both in the lab, the sceptre pride of place in the centre, computers and holograms all around them. JARVIS was present in a physical form, and there were several programmes running logistics and scans that Tony quickly shut down when he noticed you. Both scientists turned to you with guilty faces, and you looked between them suspiciously.

“Ok, what the hell is going on here? What did I walk in on?” Tony and Bruce shot glances at one another before Tony coughed and shrugged, striking a faux-casual pose as he crossed his arms.

“Just running some tests on the sceptre, you know, seeing what makes it tick and that.” You nodded slowly, gaze zeroing in on a programme that was still running on a screen behind Tony, who sidestepped to block it from your view. The three of you were caught in some weird standoff, no one moving or speaking as you looked from one to the other.

“Alright, I don’t know what you guys are doing in here, but Thor’s trusting you with that sceptre so you better not be doing anything stupid. Seriously, whatever it is you’re doing, I’d think carefully before continuing.” “Honestly, you can trust us, we know what we’re doing!”

You raised a brow in skepticism, but nothing you’d seen looked too horrifying so you nodded slowly. “Ok, but only because I trust you, Banner, to not let Tony do anything completely stupid. Now, I don’t want anything to do with this, so I’m gonna walk back out and pretend I was never here.”

You turned to leave, casting one more suspicious glance over your shoulder to see both men still giving you those weird, fake-innocent smiles, before the lab door shut behind you.

“Right, need to remember to check on that before it bites us all in the ass,” you muttered to yourself under your breath, sighing at the people you lived with and their seemingly insatiable need to complicate your life.


	2. gold dust

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I tried to find the balance between including enough of the original dialogue to follow the story line, and not using so much that it would just read like an actual script of the move - I don't know if I managed to find that balance or not, so let me know if I didn't. 
> 
> Also, I have a little youtube playlist of songs inspired by this story and the character of Spectre if anyone's interested: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDv3VEj0cl7K76XrfuByWPzeUgkKeHJsI

If there was one thing you and Tony had in common, it was your love of parties. He loved the champagne, and the tuxedos and the glamorous lifestyle - you enjoyed drinking too much, having an excuse to dress in something that wasn’t designed for combat purposes, and laughing at the people your friends became after a couple of strong cocktails. 

You checked over your reflection in the elevator one more time as it headed to the top floor of the tower. You wore a sleek black jumpsuit, with a low neck that was just the right level of showy, and black heels. Your hair was curled and half up, eyeliner sharp, lipstick perfect - you felt good. Your thigh was almost completely healed, and you made a mental note to thank Helen again as the elevator dinged. As long as you didn’t end up in a cartwheel race down the halls with Clint again, you should be good. 

The top floor of the tower was the designated party space - a bar, grand piano, sofas and a killer view making for the perfect space. And it was close enough to Tony’s lab that he could show off his latest inventions if he wanted. The area was busy, but not crowded, and with the music and mood lighting there was a nice atmosphere. 

Immediately stopping by the bar for a glass of champagne, you scanned the room and occupants. Your team was scattered around, and you recognised most of the other people here from previous parties and events - politicians, scientists, ex-SHIELD, reporters, and assorted social elites. In other words, Tony’s usual crowd. Nat’s hair beamed like a beacon across the room on a sofa, so you made a beeline for her, stopping to greet a few people as you yet. 

“How come everyone else Tony hangs out with it so boring? I actively hate 70% of the people in this room,” you announced, gracefully dropping into the seat beside Bruce as you took another swig of champagne, eyes lazily surveying the room as you figured out where the guests to avoid where situated. 

“Now now, play nice, myshka,” Nat admonished playfully with a red-lipped smirk. She was the picture of elegance in her black and white dress and perfect hair, and you made the effort to sit up a little straighter. 

Bruce smiled, playing with the beer bottle in his hands. 

“They’re not that bad to talk to, as long as you don’t mind saying ‘sorry, that’s confidential’ a few hundred times.” 

You laughed at Bruce and his dry humour, noting that he seemed to be enjoying the party slightly more than usual. In fact, him and Nat were sitting unusually close together.

Oh, you were third wheeling.

Awkwardness quickly washed over you, and judging by the cool stare Nat shot you, she knew exactly what you were thinking. 

Darting your eyes around desperately, you spotted the familiar bulk of Steve over at the pool table and you almost sighed audibly in relief. 

“Uhh, I better go say hi to Cap, I’ll catch you guys in a bit! And if you see me get cornered by Mr Pierson, the dude with the flat cap, please mercy kill me.”

Not giving them time to respond, you scurried towards Steve, swapping your now empty glass for a fresh beer as you went. There were several people milling about in the vicinity, some talking in small groups and some watching Captain America like they wanted to climb him where he stood. He did look exceptionally good in that tight, blue shirt. 

He was talking to one of the only men in the room that you didn’t recognise. Similar height, muscular, brown leather jacket and a trouble-promising grin - whoever he was, you liked him. 

“Stevie,” you called out as you approached, causing him to turn to you with a smile, “please save me before I suffocate on the sexual tension between Nat and Banner, it’s too aggressive for me.”

He laughed, glancing at your outfit for a split second before using a hand at the small of your back to pull you gently to stand at his side. 

“Sweetheart, you’re one of the most aggressive people I’ve ever met, I think you can handle it.” He glanced in the direction you’d come from, looking quickly between Bruce and Natasha before looking back to you. “On second thoughts, you might be right.”

“Cap, seriously, how are you not immediately introducing me to this outstanding woman right here?”

You preened slightly in response to the strangers statement, reaching a hand out to shake his.

“Y/N L/N, or Spectre - the Casper the Sort-of-Friendly Ghost of the Avengers, as Tony says.”

“Oh, so you’re Y/N!” He shook your hand, casting a sly look at Steve before continuing, “I’m Sam Wilson, it’s nice to meet you, I’ve heard lots of good things.” 

It hadn’t escaped your notice that Steve’s lingering hand had dropped from your back after Sam had given him that knowing look, and you tried not to be disappointed about it. It was a little embarrassing how much you were pining over this man - and how much you wanted to know what Steve had told Sam about you.

“So, how do you guys know each other exactly?” you questioned, leaning a hip against the pool table and taking a sip of your beer. 

“We met running the same track back in D.C, he helped me and Nat after SHIELD fell, and he’s been, uh, helping me with some things since then.” Steve explained, drinking from his beer as he avoided your gaze for a second. 

Your eyes narrowed slightly as you looked between the two, remembering Natasha had mentioned some guy who helped her and Steve face the Winter Soldier. Realising what that meant, you nodded and casually picked up a spare cue to take a hit. With a satisfying click, the balls hurtled across the table and you motioned to one of the boys to take a turn. You waited for Sam to line up his shot before speaking.

“So any luck on finding Bucky then?”

His cue skipped off the first ball, as you’d hoped, and both men looked at you like you’d caught them with their hands in your secret box of snacks. 

“Wha-what are you talking about?” Sam tried to play it off, stepping back from the table and taking a large gulp of whiskey, while Steve looked around them furtively before grasping your arm gently to bring you closer, motioning to Sam to do the same. 

“I know, I know we shouldn’t be looking for him, he’s a criminal, and an ex-member of HYDRA, but-”

“Steve, stop, it’s ok,” you interrupted, placing a hand on his chest as you smiled up at him, “I’m not going to tell anyone.”

He sighed in relief, squeezing your hand once before dropping it, and you smiled again, a little more playful this time. 

“I’m more insulted that you didn’t ask me for help - y’know, finding people and doing spy work is kinda my gig.” You did your best to play at being offended, backing up to take your shot as Steve and Sam looked at one another.

“From what you’ve said about her and what I’ve seen on the news, couldn’t think of anyone better to help,” Sam shrugged, turning to watch you play.

You took the shot, then faced Steve with a pleading look, pouting slightly as you raised your hands in a praying motion. He crossed his arms, shaking his head and laughing. 

“Yeah, you’re right, couldn’t think of anyone who could do a better job. Sure you’re ok keeping this from the others though?” 

You nodded, standing close and dropping your voice as Sam turned away from the two of you to play.

“Steve, I know how important Bucky is to you. Seriously, you talk about him all the time, I thought he was your old boyfriend for the first month I knew you. I’ll do anything I can to help you.”

He snorted at your comment, but then reached out to take your hand and squeeze it again, brushing his thumb over yours as he smiled softly. 

“Thank you.” 

The sincerity in his whisper had you smiling back dopily, and Sam cleared his throat pointedly after the two of you had stood there grinning stupidly for several seconds. You shook yourself out of your stupor and turned to the other man.

“Send me what you’ve got, we can come up with some leads together. Steve can send you my number.” You handed your cue to Steve, smiling between the boys again as you picked up your drink and began to walk away. “Nice to meet you!” 

“You too!” called Sam at your retreating back, watching you smile over your shoulder once more before Thor spotted you and ushered you over.

Sam whistled softly, clapping a hand on Steve’s shoulder.

“Man, I can see why you like her so much, she’s something.”

Steve nodded, in a sort of daze as he watched you laugh and joke around with the God of Thunder.

“Yeah, she’s something alright.”

\----

By the time Tony asked you to dance, you’d pretty much lost track of the number of drinks you’d consumed. After leaving Steve and Sam, you’d been bombarded by Thor, interrogated by Nat (who had of course been watching your conversation with Steve from across the room), and been approached by enough irritating party guests that you’d been steadily drinking for the past hour or so. 

You’d caught Tony’s eye over the shoulder of some Ambassador you’d been cornered by. Him, his wife and several friends of theirs had been telling stories of their vacations in Cabo for nearly 15 minutes now, and you were getting desperate to leave the situation, but due to their status you needed a polite way to do so. 

Meaning when you saw Tony, you shot him a desperate, pleading gaze, to which he laughed, made to turn away just to mess with you, and then strutted over.

“Excuse me, gentlemen and lady, could I borrow my teammate here for a second? She owes me a dance.”

You jumped at the rescue, clutching his hand and dragging him to the dancefloor with a shout of farewell before any of them could say a single word. There was a small cluster of people on the makeshift dance floor, and you tugged Tony to the centre before placing yourself into a dancing pose, one hand on his shoulder and one in his other hand as he placed his on your waist. 

“Tony, I owe you big time.”

He laughed again, swaying you both to the music. 

“You know you could’ve just walked away, right?”

You sighed and continued to stare at your feet as you tried hard not to step on his toes when the music picked up and he began twirling you faster.

“I couldn’t think of an excuse, and let’s face it, I’m not exactly a favourite of the New York elites, I can’t afford the bad press.”

He hummed, then smiled fondly.

“Didn’t think you cared about their opinions.”

You snorted, casting a disdainful look at the group at the edge of the room. 

“I don’t, but you and Nat keep telling me to play nice, so I’m trying.”

As the song ended, he released you from his grasp and kissed your hand in theatrics, leading you over to the bar. 

“You and Cap both have issues with authority, the two of you are gonna get us in trouble.”

You mock-glared at him as you accepted the tumbler of whiskey, raising an eyebrow in challenge. 

“Yeah, cause _I’m_ the difficult one in the group.”

He shot you a disapproving look, waving at an elderly man who called his name from the windows. 

“Just stay on the move, your speciality is stealth, I shouldn’t have to tell you how to avoid someone.” 

With one last wink, he strolled over to the elder man, leaving you to lean against the bar with your whiskey and enjoy a moment of solitude. Just you and your thoughts, which were totally and utterly consumed by the blonde super soldier who was surrounded by enraptured people as he told another story of his heroics. Not because he was showing off, he never did, but because no one was going to miss the opportunity to hear tales of Captain America's past. 

There was one woman in the gathering who was standing a little too close to him. Dark hair, big eyes, killer dress - you hated to be _that girl_ , but you also sort of hated her, whoever she was. 

Scowling, you drank deeply from your glass and only noticed that it was Clint who sidled up next to you due to the familiar scent of his cologne. The archer grabbed another beer, popped it open, then mirrored your stance of leaning against the bar with crossed arms.

“Stop looking so angry, squirt, you’re scaring people.”

You elbowed him in the gut to stop him laughing, making a conscious effort to smooth out your expression before people did actually start to notice. Clint rubbed his side with a small pout, muttering under his breath before sighing and looking around the party, more specifically, following your gaze to where Steve stood. 

“Why are you over here when he’s over there? It’s time to go get your man already.”

You scowled again as the woman laughed and touched Steve’s arm. 

“He’s not my man, Clint, otherwise I _would_ be over there, and not here, getting drunk with only _you_ for company.”

He clasped a hand to his heart and gaped at you.

“How dare you, I’m a fucking _delight.”_

You snorted, shaking your head.

“Course you are.” 

You stood in silence for a moment, still watching Steve thoughtfully as Clint glanced boredly around the room.

“As a guy, do you think it’s sexy if a woman makes the first move?”

A reminiscent smirk appeared on Clint’s face, and he nodded slowly, distractedly. 

“Yeah, it’s pretty sexy. Why, you thinking of making a move finally?”

You nodded, tapping your fingers on your glass nervously. 

“Make our own future, right? You guys insist that he likes me too, so why am I sitting around, watching other people flirt with him when I could just go up there and do that myself.”

“You are a female superhero, you should be making your own choices, not waiting for a man to make a move when you could. Do what you want! God knows you never listen to any of us on a mission.”

You were too busy steeling yourself and downing the last of your drink to register Clint’s mumbled dig. Placing the glass down, you smoothed your hair and took a few deep breaths. 

“Ok, this is happening,” you stated, throwing one last look at Clint. “If this goes badly, I’ll give you the single and you start a fire while I leave the state.” 

He saluted you, then walked away to join Maria and Rhodey, leaving you to fix a smile on your face and head over to get your man. To your surprise, Steve glanced up when you were still several feet away and gave you the same ‘begging for rescue’ look you’d given to Tony. 

Feeling more sure of yourself, you walked up to his side, placed a hand on his back and turned to the group he was with. 

“Sorry to interrupt, but I need to borrow Steve.” You attempted to make your expression bashful, ignoring the slight glare the dark haired woman was giving you. 

“Of course! Please excuse us,” Steve replied politely, smiling at the group again before offering you his arm, which you quickly took, and the two of you headed upstairs to the balcony by Tony’s lab. It was quieter up here, and leaning over the banister allowed you to watch the party below. It was also darker, allowing the two of you to hide in the shadows to avoid being whisked away for more publicity moments. 

“Thanks for the backup,” Steve smirked, leaning his forearms on the banister to stare beyond the party and out the glass wall to the night sky. 

“No problem, it is my job after all.”

You copied his stance, wishing you still had a glass to give you something to fiddle with as your body practically vibrated with nervous energy. 

“So,” you began after a moment of silence, “Bruce and Nat seem to be pretty close these days.”

Steve smirked fondly, taking a sip of his beer.

“Yeah, not that he realises what’s going on. The man’s a genius, yet he doesn’t notice a pretty girl flirting with him.”

Internally rolling your eyes at the irony, you spun your ring round your finger, a nervous habit you’d had for years. 

“Well, lots of people brush off things like that. They convince themselves it’s their imagination because if they admit it’s real, they run the risk of getting hurt."

At your softly spoken words, Steve turned from the window to lean his side against the railing, fixing you with a searching stare.

“Are you still talking about Nat and Banner?” He asked quietly, the background noise of the party now nonexistent to the two of you. You debated backing down, laughing it off and removing yourself from the situation, but you couldn’t.

“No,” was your simple reply, and either you were crazy or Steve’s gaze had dropped to your lips for a half second.

“So, what’s your recommendation for people in positions like them?”

You licked your lips, considering the question as you leant in closer, tension thick in the air. 

“I would say, it’s time to stop dancing around each other. I would say that whatever the nerves they have about ruining a friendship or messing up a team can’t stop them from going for what they want because in the end, if they care for each other as much as they do, even if it didn’t work out they’d still get through it. I’d say…” you trailed off, lost in the blue of his eyes. You raised a hand to settle on his jaw, feeling him tense under your touch. “I’d say, kiss me.”

There was the slightest pause, a joyful look, then Steve’s lips were on yours. His hands held your waist, gripping desperately as the kiss quickly deepened. Your arms snaked around his neck, revelling in the feeling of finally having this moment, when the screech of microphone feedback had you jumping apart.

“Alright, everybody gather around, it’s speech time!”

Resuming eye contact, the two of you couldn’t help but laugh as Tony’s voice drifted loud and clear up to your hiding spot. Smiling giddily, you dropped your hands from his neck to take his hand. 

“As much as I want to kill Tony for his bad timing, we better go before he notices we’re not there and starts looking for us.” 

Steve laughed, running his spare hand through his hair and reluctantly agreeing. 

You made for the stairs, gently pulling Steve with you when he tugged on your hand to send you spinning back to him. Ever so gently, he kissed you again, just for a moment. 

“Later,” he whispered, tucking your hair behind your ear before leading you downstairs. His hand squeezed yours, then dropped from your grasp as you slinked into the back of the group. All through Tony’s speech and the remainder of the evening, your eyes sought each other out across the room, gazes full of promise and secrets and glee, and you couldn’t wait for this party to be over so you could drag him into a dark corner and make up for lost time. 

  
  


\----

  
  


“Whatever man, it’s a trick!”

You glanced up from your conversation with Maria at Clint’s exclamation. The party had emptied out about twenty minutes ago, leaving the ‘inner circle’ to crowd the sofas with the last few drinks of the night. Tony and Rhodey shared a sofa, as did Thor and Steve. Across from them were you and Bruce on the remaining sofa, him in the corner talking to Nat on an armchair, and you with your legs curled up on the seat, heels long gone, as Maria and Clint sat leaning against the sofa in front of you. The boys had been arguing about whose weapon was the best, and now the discussion had turned to Thor’s mighty hammer. Helen stirred briefly where she lay passed out in her chair, and you wondered how she was managing to sleep through the boisterous conversations around her. 

“Please, be my guest.”

You smirked at the challenge, kicking Clint lightly in the shoulder to encourage him to stand up. 

“Oh please, please try, this is gonna be so good,” you pressed, grinning around your bottle when he turned to glare at you. Tony and Rhodey joined in the goading, and Clint quickly pushed himself to his feet, tapped you with the drumsticks he’d been fiddling with, and strutted around the table to where the hammer sat. 

Laughing at Tony’s mocking, you turned as you felt eyes on you, making eye contact with Steve who was watching you with a small smile. You grinned at him, and he winked at you before you both turned to watch Clint’s pretty sad attempt at lifting the hammer. You continued to be amused as Tony, Rhodey and Bruce all took their turns at failing, then Tony called for Steve to give it a try. As the others all cheered him on, you sat back in your seat and sipped your beer, cat-like smirk on your face as you watched him roll up his sleeves and flex his muscles as he took hold of the hammer strap. 

It was a really nice view. 

Despite how distracted you were by his massive arms, you could've sworn you saw the tiniest of movements from the hammer. And you were definitely sure you saw a look of shock on Thor’s face that lasted a split second before disappearing. You raised an eyebrow when Thor announced Steve's failure and no one else appeared to have noticed, but didn’t have a chance to dwell on it when they began clamouring for you to take a turn. 

“Seriously? I don’t think invisibility is gonna help me here.”

“Come on, Moaning Myrtle, give it the old college try, right?”

Rolling your eyes at Tony’s goading, you padded over to the hammer, foregoing your heels because you were done with staggering about in pain for the night.

“Firstly, it was an academy I went to, not a college, and secondly, if I somehow pick this up this will be the most incredible moment of my life. Prepare to maybe bow down to the Queen, losers.”

Threading the leather strap around your wrist, you tried to manipulate your energy in the same way you did when you used your powers. You didn’t think it would make a difference, but it was worth a shot. Once you’d felt you’d distributed your energy through your arm and hand, you tugged with all your might. Nothing. 

“Well, that’s a letdown, I was really looking forward to the promotion.” 

The team laughed at you, and you fell back into your seat with an overdramatic pout.

“The handle’s imprinted, right? Like a security code?” Tony questioned, helping himself to another beer. 

“Yes, that’s an interesting theory. Or, here’s another one. You’re simply all not worthy.”

Boos and groans rang out from the crowd as Thor flipped his hammer with ease, when a high pitched ringing had everyone wincing. Tony pulled out his phone to investigate, and you pushed up in your seat as you noticed the sound of scratching metal coming from the darkness beneath Tony’s lab. 

“Worthy?”

The robotic voice had everyone looking in the direction you stared, tensing up as a shredded Stark bot stumbled into view. 

“No. How could you be worthy? You’re all killers.”

Slowly, you stood up from the chair, aware of several of your teammates doing the same thing as you all continued to stare at the mystery figure. As Tony began mumbling about a buggy suit, part of you wanted to scoff in disbelief, but you were too mystified by what was happening. 

You could see Nat move closer to Bruce out the corner of your eye, and Tony stepped up to your left. Chancing a quick glance round as the figure continued to talk about killing someone, you noted that Thor was in front of Helen. Good, she was the only civilian here and so protecting her was the priority. 

“Who sent you?” 

Thor’s question had you turning back to the robot, interested in the answer. 

“ _I see a suit of armour around the world,”_ played the recording, Tony’s voice clear as day. You couldn’t help but turn agape to the man who suddenly looked several shades paler, staring at the robot in shock. 

“Ultron,” stammered Bruce, and you were struck with the realisation that that was one of the words you’d seen on the screen in their lab when you had walked in on them acting weirdly. Still seated, Maria quietly pulled out her gun next to you, and you cursed yourself for not having your own on you. You had a holster of several throwing knives around your shin, hidden under the looser fabric of your pants, but they weren’t ideal in this situation. Still, you work with what you’ve got. 

You were slowly putting your left foot on the sofa to unstrap the holster when Ultron stated he was on a mission.

“What mission?” asked Nat, a split second before you could.

“Peace in our time.”

As he spoke, more bots shot through the wall behind him and rocketed straight towards your group. Maria dived to the floor, but you were unbalanced from trying to get to your knives, and so a split second before impact you let your powers shoot through you, the bots phasing straight through your body before you became solid again and quickly crouched behind the sofa.

As Steve kicked up the coffee table, sending the two robots careening towards the ceiling, the group scattered. Maria shot at one of the robots from her position on the floor, Thor quickly engaging with the other as Rhodey and Tony slid down a floor to approach Ultron. Shots were firing everywhere, and as everyone hurried to take cover, you used your phasing powers to make a run for a bookcase at the back of the room. 

Reaching for the red hardback on the bottom right shelf, you pulled out the pistol you’d hidden months ago for cases exactly like this. Taking cover behind a table, you dropped your powers to conserve energy and tried to figure out a plan. 

Nat was with Bruce, so hopefully the Hulk wouldn't be making a guest appearance, and Helen was hid in the corner behind a piano, meaning that you needed to draw attention and fire away to the other side of the room. A shower of sparks suddenly rained down over you, and you looked up to see Steve wrestling with one of the robots in the air before they smashed into a wall. Steve fell to the floor and the robot turned his blasts to Nat and Bruce who were making a run for the stairs. Knowing it would take more than that to injure Steve, you stepped out from your hiding place and shot repeatedly into the robots head, quickly drawing its attention to you. 

Before it could make a dive at you, Tony leapt onto it’s back and began trying to stab it. You were a great shot, but you weren't about to risk shooting Tony, so you turned and sought out the other henchman, instantly becoming furious with yourself when you noticed it advancing on Helen. You began to run towards the doctor, shooting the robot as you did, and then when you were close enough to reach, you wrapped a hand around her wrist, spreading your energy through your fingertips so that both of you became intangible. 

It was an ability that drained you incredibly quickly, but as you weren’t out on the field, it was worth the risk of exhaustion. However, you were shocked to realise that the robot had begun to back away from the two of you, its hands lowering. Confused, you reached up to shoot it again anyway, but before you could squeeze the trigger, Steve clutched the thing around the neck and wrenched it backwards so that Thor could decimate it with his hammer. 

Dropping your intangibility with a gasp of pain, you pulled Helen behind you, gun trained on the remaining bot as you tried to get her to safety. Then, with a metallic crunch, it was quiet as both bots lay on the floor sparking. As Ultron gave his villain speech, you released Helen’s wrist but kept her behind you, slowly sidling over towards Clint with your gun trained on the intruder in the hopes that if he attacked, Clint could get Helen to safety while you covered them. 

“There’s only one path to peace. The Avenger’s extinction.”

Thor’s hammer went sailing into his body, crushing him through the wall before Ultron could say anything more, and you lowered your gun and breathed out slowly as the adrenaline flooded from your body. The room was silent as Ultron’s blue eyes flickered then died, knowing that this was nowhere near over.

  
  


\----

  
  


Sighing deeply, you hit another couple of keys on the computer to no avail. 

“Everything’s been accessed and wiped. And I mean everything, files from SHIELD, all our surveillance on HYDRA, everything,” you explained, spinning in your chair to face the room. Everyone was gathered in the lab, trying to figure out exactly what the hell had happened when Tony had announced his realisation that if Ultron had killed JARVIS, who knew what else he managed to get into. 

“He used the internet as an escape hatch,” Bruce muttered forlornly, rubbing at his eyes. He looked as tired as you felt. After the fight, you had all taken a minute to sort yourselves out and search the building before reconvening here. You’d taken a moment to tie up your hair, throw an old hoodie over your jumpsuit and put some socks on and then come back here to check your systems. 

“He’s in your files, he’s in the internet. What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?”

Your head dropped at Rhodey’s leading question, and you felt a headache wash over you as Maria replied with the words ‘nuclear codes’. The room was tense and quiet, the table where Loki’s sceptre had previously sat now obnoxiously empty. You looked up from rubbing your temples to see Steve frowning at you, concern for you clear in his face. He knew how much using your intangibility on someone else drained you, and you were well aware that you probably looked tired as hell. You smiled weakly, trying to reassure him, but clearly failing when he turned back to Rhodey with a somber expression. 

There was a sudden gust of wind in the tense silence when Thor appeared, picking Tony up with one hand as if it was nothing.

“Come on, use your words, buddy,” Tony squeaked out, uselessly swatting at Thor’s hand. 

“Oh, I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark.”

You couldn’t help but agree, barely listening as Thor explained how he’d lost the trail as you were too busy trying to figure out just what the fuck Tony had done, and how stupid he had been to do it. 

“I don’t understand. You built this program, why is it trying to kill us?”

When Tony began to laugh at Helen’s question, you realised that if Thor wanted to murder him right now, you’d hold down his legs to help. 

“You think this is funny?” demanded Thor, stepping towards the still laughing genius. 

“No, it’s probably not, right?” came Tony’s infuriating reply.

“It’s terrible. No, no, I’m sorry. I’m sorry, it is funny. It’s a hoot that you don’t get why we need this.”

“Oh my god, Tony, stop,” you suddenly exploded, jumping up from your chair and taking a few steps towards the man. “What the hell were you thinking? I said, don’t do anything stupid, and this is what you do? Create a murderous, psycho robot that wants to kill _us specifically_ and then you laugh like this is a hilarious situation? Goddammit, Tony, why? What was the idea here?”

The anger was clear in your voice, and you knew the tiredness was what made you speak up, but you couldn’t help but be frustrated. You were glaring Tony down when a hand grasped your wrist, and you looked up to meet Steve’s soothing, understanding gaze. Instantly, you felt some of the frustration melt away, and you took a deep calming breath as Tony and Bruce argued over their creation of the ‘murder bot’. 

Seeing you’d relaxed, Steve released you and you walked over to sit on a desk near Natasha - you felt better after the outburst, but it was still probably for the best if you were out of punching range. 

The argument carried on, only truly drawing your attention again when Steve said his bit about fighting together and losing together too. He was too sweet when he got into his leadership role, and right now you just wanted to think about the kiss and not the new threat that had just been released on the world from this very lab. With the agreement that Ultron needed to be found as soon as possible, the group began to disperse for a couple of hours of sleep before the hard work started. Rhodey and Helen, who lived off site, bid the group farewell and left the Avengers to stand quietly once again in the now destroyed living area.

Wrapping your hoodie around you tightly to fight off the chill, you led the way to the elevator, fully accepting your exhaustion now you knew your bed was within reaching distance. Most of the team entered behind you, Thor disappearing into the night with the promise he’d be back and Tony retreating further into his lab. Usually, you’d be the first one to convince him to go get some rest, but right now you didn’t have it in you, so you left him to it. When the elevator dinged on the first floor, Nat, Maria and Clint stepped out with tired waves, leaving you and Steve to head down to the floor below. The two of you turned to face each other, but before he could say anything you wrapped your arms around his waist and buried your head in his chest in a tight hug. He didn’t hesitate in wrapping his own arms around you, ignoring the doors when they opened on your floor and leaning his chin on your head instead. 

You savoured the feeling for a moment more before reluctantly pulling away, taking him by the hand as you walked in silence to stop outside your door. 

“So I know the end of the night was a little chaotic, but I still had a good time.”

Steve chuckled at your statement, gently reaching up a hand to cradle your jaw. Slowly, he leaned in to kiss you again, softer than before. You were already smiling when he pulled away, and it only widened when he pressed a kiss to your forehead before pulling away completely. 

“Once we’ve dealt with the evil robot hell-bent on destroying us, I’d like to take you to dinner,” Steve offered, grinning when you giggled. 

“Sounds perfect,” you replied, opening your door as you looked him up and down once more. “As long as you wear this shirt again because wow.”

Not waiting for a reply, you called out a goodnight and shut the door behind you, hearing him laugh to himself as he headed down the hall to his own room. The happiness from the kiss perked you up enough that you not only changed into pj’s, but actually took your makeup off before you burrowed yourself into your bed, desperately reaching for a few hours of peace before the clusterfuck that tomorrow was bound to be. 


	3. footprints

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One day, I will learn how to write a decent fight scene, I promise.

The sun was still rising, casting a golden glow over the computer screen in front of you, and you sighed for the hundredth time that hour. You’d slept well but risen early, only to bump into Nat in the kitchen. So the two of you had sparred to burn off some energy and then set up camp in the Avenger’s private research area with takeaway coffees and breakfast. You’d spent the past hour and a half combing through surveillance equipment and contacting people around the world to get the word out about your search for Ultron. 

Maria had turned up an hour ago, and through the use of agents and the news had been helping you in your tracking endeavours. Tony appeared shortly after she had left for a meeting, and the three of you had been caught in a tense standoff. You were still pissed, but sleep and coffee had made you accept that this obviously hadn’t been his plan - yeah, he shouldn’t have gone behind the teams back, but he also hadn’t meant to create a world-destroying robot. So you’d poured him a coffee, pointed him towards a laptop that was running facial recognition software, and turned back to your work. 

The three of you had been working quietly since then, no longer tense, but still somber. Thor had returned 10 minutes ago, a lot calmer than the night before, and was hovering around you, watching you work curiously. You were currently trawling through the database, seeing if there was any way to recover the deleted files while you tapped a pen relentlessly on the desk. 

“Y/N, I will break your fingers.”

You glanced up at Nat sheepishly, immediately dropping the pen as you met her cool stare.

“Sorry.”

You went to turn back to the screen when voices filtered through the door, causing you all to look up as Bruce, Steve, Maria and Clint all walked in. You grinned at the group, eyes zeroing in on Steve, who spared you a grim smile in return that had you dreading his next words. Wordlessly, the team gathered around the desk in the centre of the room and Steve passed you a tablet. On it was an image of a body in a cell, the word ‘peace’ scrawled on the wall in what was clearly blood. You sucked in a breath, and passed it to Thor at your side. 

“What's this?” Tony questioned, catching a glimpse of the image over Thor’s shoulder before the tablet was slammed into the billionaire’s chest.

“A message. Ultron killed Strucker.” 

Steve’s hard words sent a shiver down your spine as Natasha questioned why he would be sending them a message when realisation dawned on you.

“He knew something that Ultron didn’t want us to know,” you mused out loud, cutting off Steve before he could answer Nat. “Something that we’re gonna have a hard time finding out now that Strucker’s dead and our flies on him have all been wiped.”

Not wanting to accept that, Natasha tapped on the keyboard to bring up the file, frowning when the words ‘record deleted’ flashed on the screen. 

“Yep, everything’s gone.”

The team shared defeated looks before a thoughtful expression crossed Steve’s face. 

“Not everything.”

Brows furrowed, you turned to follow his gaze, spotting a box of files in the corner that you had pulled out earlier to search through for an old coding log. Cottoning on to his idea, you groaned loudly, and went to refill your cup of coffee.

  
  


\----

Mere hours later found you and the team on a quinjet, geared up and heading for Africa. After realising Ulysses possibly possessed vibranium, and was as good a lead as any, you’d tracked him down to a Salvage Yard on the African coastline. The whole team was coming, even Bruce who would be there as a last resort. If Ultron was there, so were the Maximoff’s, and you needed all the man power you could get. 

Rolling your shoulders, you shifted in your seat and clicked a few buttons on the dash as you recalibrated the jet’s course. Nerves usually weren’t a big problem for you, as you’d been trained so rigorously in the Academy that they had literally beaten the luxury of nerves out of you. Since joining the Avengers and gaining something to fight for, you’d been having more problems with worries before going into fights. Still, today you were worse than usual. 

You were so out of it that when a hand clapped on your shoulder you only just managed not to jump, quickly sending Tony a weak smile to pretend he hadn’t just scared the shit out of you. His eyes turned concerned as he sat in the seat next to you, gently nudging your knee with his. 

“Go talk over the plan with Cap, I’ll take over up here.”

You didn’t fight his gentle command, willingly walking over to the group sitting in the back of the jet. They looked up as you approached, and Clint handed you a comms unit as you took a seat next to Banner and turned expectantly to Steve. 

“Ok, so we’re going in with the assumption that Ultron and the enhanced twins will be there, as well as Ulysses and his men, provided they haven’t already been killed. Now, just because we share an enemy, doesn’t make us allies, so we have to be prepared for a fight on both sides. Tony will focus on Ultron, his suit makes them the best match in combat, and me and Thor will provide him with what cover we can. Y/N, you’ll be with Nat on the floor, up against the twins and any of Ulysses’ men that are stupid enough to fire at us first. Clint will cover you from above, and Banner’s on standby for a ‘Code Green’. We still don’t know the full extent of the Maximoff’s powers, so be careful, and try to immobilize them as quickly as possible so we can focus on Ultron. We’ll do our best to sneak in there, try and get the drop on them, if they don’t already know we’re coming. Good?”

“Good,” you replied, happy with Steve’s plan. Comms in place and plan learnt, you rounded the corner to the storage alcove, wrenching open your locker to run your fingers over your weapon selection as you decided what would be the best option. The male enhanced had super speed, which meant that a heavy machine gun was a bad idea. If he was running about and you were trying to track him, it would be too easy for him to cross paths with one of your teammates and have you shoot them. Precision was more ideal, but Clint was already taking up the position of sniper with his arrows. Plus, you were fighting in an enclosed space. Settling for two of your heavier pistols, you clipped them onto your holsters along with spare ammo, fastening your brace of throwing knives around your left bicep. 

“Good choices,” Steve’s quiet voice floated over your shoulder. Closing your locker, you turned to him with a smile as you tugged on your gloves.

“Hey,” you whispered.

“Hey,” he smiled back. 

“Guess dinner will have to wait then?”

He chuckled and shrugged, pushing away from the wall he leant against to stand before you and take one of your hands. 

“You never know, we might have taken down the bad guys and be back in New York before sunset.”

You smiled softly at his teasing tone and pulled him into a hug, relishing the feel of his strong arms wrapped securely around you. 

“It’s ok,” you replied quietly after a moment, “it’ll be worth the wait.”

Steve pulled away from you slightly, brushed back your hair, and leant in to press his lips to yours. He tasted sweet, and you pushed up onto your toes to thread a hand through the short hair on the nape of his neck. You shared slow kisses for several, perfect moments before Tony’s voice called out to let you all know that you were approaching the landing site. 

You pulled away with a huff, quickly releasing Steve as you heard the others begin to shuffle around and grab weapons and bits of armour. 

“One day, we’ll be able to kiss without Stark interrupting,” you mumbled through gritted teeth, causing Steve to laugh as he squeezed your shoulder gently. 

“If it happens one more time, I’ll get rid of him myself,” Steve promised with a cheeky smirk. You watched him walk away with a wistful smile that quickly dropped from your face as Natasha appeared around the corner. You coughed nonchalantly, adjusting your holster, then made to move past her as she pulled ammo from her own locker, but she caught your arm before you could. 

“We’re talking about this later.”

You gulped, knowing that from her it wasn’t a promise, it was a threat. 

  
  


\----

  
  


Your footsteps were silent on the catwalk as you prowled in the shadows, pistol ready in your hands. Below you, Tony, Thor and Steve stood facing Ultron and the twins. You listened to the two sides converse as you mapped out the salvage yard. A flash of red on the floor below let you know that when the fight started, you and Nat would be in effective positions for a pincer attack on the twins. Somewhere above you was Clint, and somewhere far below you was Ulysses, but given that you’d just watched him have his arm cut off then be shoved down a flight of stairs, you weren’t too worried about him. 

The nerves you’d felt earlier had disappeared as soon as you entered into battle mode, years of training honing your concentration on the matter at hand. You’d all agreed that trying to separate the twins was a good idea, and you waited for your signal to engage as you turned invisible and crept closer to the Sokovians. As soon as Tony and Ultron collided, you knew it was go time. 

You grasped the railing and flipped yourself over it to land directly in front of Wanda, dropping your invisibility the second your feet touched the floor to punch her in the face. Caught off guard, the younger woman stumbled back, and you kicked her in the chest before she had a chance to recover. As she fell to the ground, you pulled out one of your knives, lunging forward when you were suddenly flung sideways several metres. You sucked in a ragged breath as you impacted heavily with the floor, but didn’t let the pain have a chance to register as you pushed yourself up to shoulder roll sideways, barely missing the fist that came flying past your head. The slightest blur in your peripheral and a strong gust of wind let you know it was Pietro, and you stood up quickly before he could circle back for another hit. 

Darting your head around, you became invisible and hopped a railing to land on the ledge below you, scanning the area for a flash of the enhanced. Ultron and Tony were still flying about in blasts of lasers and the crunching of metal, and Nat was close by taking out a huddle of Ulysses’ men. Steve and Thor seemed to be having no trouble with the bots that swarmed the place, so you decided to focus on another group of Ulysses’ men that poured out of a side door in front of you.

Dropping your invisibility, you smirked and rushed them from behind, shooting one in the shoulder before you grasped another one around the middle, using your momentum to fling yourself forwards and kick another one in the chest before going limp and pulling the one you held to the ground. Rolling quickly, you shot him in each knee and ducked as a bullet whizzed past your head. Swiping your leg out, you managed to knock him off balance enough to tug his gun from his grip and jam the butt of it into his nose. As he stumbled back, you felt your knee buckle under you as a heavy boot slammed into it from behind. You twisted to fall onto your back rather than your face, turning yourself intangible just in time for the bullet to sail through your forehead and ricochet off the metal ground. Grinning, you kicked up into the man’s crotch before launching forward to tackle him to the floor, punching him in the temple twice before you decided he was down for the count. 

Suddenly, a hand appeared around your throat and ripped you backwards, but before you were pulled fully into his grasp the man dropped with a heavy thud. Whipping around, you saw him slumped face down on top of one of his comrades, an arrow sticking out of his shoulder blade. Throwing a cheeky salute to where you thought Clint was hiding, you ran down the walkway towards the others, barely flinching when Thor’s hammer sailed past your head. 

You almost laughed when a crash sounded in front of you, and you looked down to find Pietro in a pile of crates. You watched as he attempted to stumble to his feet and Steve knocked him back with his shield in the kids face. He fell down with a dazed expression, and you took the chance to leap on top of him, slamming his left hand to the ground and using magnetic handcuffs to secure him to the floor. He looked up at you with a face of confusion and anger, and you blew him a kiss and wink before turning invisible and disappearing to a corner to shoot down some bots. 

You were so busy taking precise shots that you didn’t notice Wanda using her powers to release her brother and take down Thor and Nat. It wasn’t until you saw Steve slam into the ground and her hand whirl about his head with a strange, red mist that you felt anger seize you. 

Without a second thought, you sprinted towards the woman, still invisible. She was staring upwards, trying to spot Clint when you silently climbed the staircase so you were on the same floor as her. As you crept down the walkway, she turned to head for the stairs, but stopped in place as her eyes narrowed in your direction. Immediately you halted, not even daring to breathe as you panicked. She was squinting in your direction, as if she was unsure of what she was seeing. Out of nowhere, she raised her glowing hands and shot her powers in your direction, and you quickly dropped the apparently-useless invisibility in favour of intangibility, ducking away from the tendrils of energy. You began to advance towards her, rolling and zigzagging to avoid her onslaught of powers when you felt an arm around your waist drag you to the ground.

Winded from the sudden impact, you saw a blue blur disappear behind his sister. You raised your gun and squinted as she walked towards you, but your ears were ringing and your vision was blurring from the way your head had smacked the floor. You blinked rapidly to try and clear the double vision, firing off a couple of desperate shots as you tried to drag your beaten body off the floor to run. You barely pushed up onto your knees when Wanda’s face suddenly appeared right in front of you, her hand reaching for your forehead. A swirl of red, a wicked smile, and you were in darkness. 

\----

  
  


Your lungs burned as you inhaled sharply, as if you’d been drowning. You were sat in a chair, head still ringing, and you reached for your gun as you quickly took in your surroundings. You were definitely not in an African Salvage Yard. 

In fact, you knew where you were. 

You jumped to your feet, panic in your chest as you placed your hands on the glass wall in front of you. Below was a large hall, covered in safety mats, benches against the wall. On the benches sat a group of teenagers dressed in combat trousers and t-shirts, laughing and cheering as they stared at the centre of the room. In the middle on the mat were two girls who looked about 16, engaged in fierce hand to hand combat. You watched as one clearly dominated the other, choking on your breath as she played with the other girl, taunting her before she plunged a knife deep into the blonde girl's shoulder. She screamed and fell to her knees, trying desperately to push the other girl away, but the brunette didn’t relent. Even when the blonde banged on the floor in submission, calling for the match to end, the other girl simply twisted the knife then wrenched it out as the girl fell, crying, to the floor, clutching the wound that gushed with blood. 

You watched in distress as the blonde was dragged from the room, feeling the bile rise in your throat as the winner stalked back to the benches, high fiving several people as she laughed in glee. 

“She certainly has promise.”

You turned to your left to see a man and a woman stood watching the proceedings below. The woman who spoke was dressed in slacks and a button up shirt, gun in her waistband and a satisfied smile on her face. The man with her was dressed in black tactical gear, a deep scar through his cheek, and he nodded in agreement. 

“She’s come a long way. Excellent marksmanship, good control over her powers. She might even be ready for graduation. We could use her out on the field.”

The woman hummed in thought, turning from the window in disinterest when two other students stepped up to spar. 

“She would be a great asset against SHIELD,” she agreed slowly, heading for the door. “We’ll keep her for the time being, there’s word that HYDRA’s leant of her abilities, and I won’t risk her out on the field until we’re sure she could hold her own against the Winter Soldier. I won’t have them poaching my best soldier.”

The man followed her out of the room, voices fading as they disappeared. You stood in the viewing gallery in silence, turning back to the hall. You barely registered the two fighting students, instead staring at your younger self as she sat on the bench, an easy smile on her face and a boy's arm around her. You refused to look at his face. In that moment you wanted nothing more than to phase through the glass, drop down into the room below, and shoot your teenage self through the chest. You wanted to scream at her to run, and to take her brother and boyfriend with her before it was too late. You wanted to tell her to stop blindly following orders, to break into the headmistress’s office and find out exactly what this Academy was and send word to SHIELD before it was too late. 

But this was a memory, of course, and there was nothing you could do. 

With a shaky exhale, you spun on your heels and pulled the door handle, stepping through to find yourself in a back courtyard. That wasn’t right.

There were screams in the distance, the roar of gunfire and the crashes of battle engulfing you. Smoke instantly filled your lungs as you stumbled into the wintery sunlight. There were bodies everywhere, limbs sticking out through the rubble in a truly harrowing spectacle. Your mouth gaped open as you realised that you were watching the fall of the Academy, an event that took place years after the sparring match you’d just watched. You gripped your pistol in your hand as you sprinted around the corner to the front of the Academy where the real chaos was taking place. The gun was useless, you were an outside viewer not a participant of this memory, but it made you feel slightly better. 

Around the corner, the bodies littering the flagstones multiplied, the cries of the injured going unheard as the battle raged on. Military students against an ambush of HYDRA strike units, the school hadn’t stood a chance. They’d been gravely outnumbered, and many of the younger students were simply too inexperienced to hold their own against the seasoned warriors. You watched as HYDRA took down student after student, killing some on the spot while others were knocked unconscious, tightly bound, and thrown into trucks. They were here for the enhanced, scouting for their new wave of soldiers. You could see yourself across the courtyard, back to back with one of the Academy’s teachers, a pyrokinetic, the two of you holding your own against the onslaught of enemies. 

But you knew your outcome, knew that it wasn’t long till you and several of your friends saw an opening and stole one of the enemies armoured jeeps to make a break for it. Instead, you watched in sadness as a boy tried desperately to fight off the agents that surrounded him. Cesar’s super strength and ability to create shields from energy meant that he was one of the top students, but he still didn’t stand a chance and he knew it. So instead, he decided to go down swinging. You watched him, bleeding from his stomach and head, but still brawling as he fought his way towards your past self. 

The two of you stumbled towards each other, supporting most of his weight as he gripped you tightly. From here, you couldn’t see the tears in both their eyes as she begged him not to stay, but you saw the desperation in the hard kiss he pressed to her lips before he shoved her backwards. You could see the sorrow, the acceptance in his eyes as he created a forcefield between the two of you, agony on his face as he turned back to fight the next wave of HYDRA agents. 

Not a day went by in your life when you didn’t think about the boy who sacrificed his life for yours. His distraction, his use of his powers that had given you a chance to grab anyone you could and escape. It was a debt you would never forget, and would never be able to repay. 

Everything went quiet as you watched Cesar fall to his knees after a bullet struck his chest. You could see his mouth drop open in a scream, but it was if someone had hit mute. Everything around you was fading to white as you stared helplessly at the dying man in front of you, anger and fear and sadness consuming you whole.

Then you blinked, cold metal beneath you as you stared up at the azure sky, crying helplessly as Iron Man carried you silently back to the quinjet. 

  
  


\----

  
  


The team sat in silence, scattered around the quinjet, no one acknowledging anyone as Tony spoke quietly to Hill over the phone. Thor paced, cracking his knuckles distractedly, and Bruce was shivering beneath his blanket where he slumped on the floor. Steve and Nat sat silently staring at the ground as Clint flew the jet. When you’d come out of your daze to find yourself already in the air, Clint had explained how Wanda had manipulated the team, skating quickly over the destruction the Hulk had caused. You’d merely nodded sullenly and retreated to the back of the jet where you sat cross legged in the corner. You were still there all these hours later, methodically taking apart and cleaning guns one by one. You’d already been through the whole set, and were now working through Natasha’s selection. It was supposed to distract you, but you could do this in your sleep on muscle memory alone, which meant you were still replaying the memory over and over as you stared blankly at the wall. 

Not paying attention, you picked up an assault rifle without noticing the broken muzzle, slicing open your hand on warped metal as you’d moved to begin disassembling the weapon. The cut made you hiss, and you were snapped out of your daydreams by the pain. Frustrated, you tossed the weapon to the ground with a clang and threw yourself up from the floor to stomp towards the nearest med kit. 

You could feel the eyes of Nat and Steve watching you, but when you looked up as you slammed open the kit you realised that they were looking straight through you, still too lost in their own minds to be aware of what was happening. Steve’s eyes rose unseeingly to watch the blood drip from your hand to the floor, his gaze not rising from the splatter of blood on the floor and a little prickle of hurt jabbed at your heart as he turned away from you to resume staring at his hands. 

Even more enraged, you sifted through the first aid items with your good hand, impatiently throwing things out of the box as they got in your way. A pair of hands gently clamped onto your shoulders and turned you away from the box towards the co-pilot seat, and despite the anger blazing inside you, you didn’t resist as Tony pressed you into the chair. The genius then returned to the box, and you lifted your head to meet the stare you felt trained on you. 

Clint smiled at you, gentle and sombre, as Tony reappeared to kneel at your feet with antiseptic, cotton wool, and bandages. In one deep exhale, you felt the anger bleed out of you, leaving you exhausted and sad as you leant back into the chair. The men were silent as Tony carefully cleaned your hand and bandaged the sluggishly bleeding wound. When he was done, you flexed your fingers experimentally and looked up at him as he stood. 

“Thanks, Tony,” you whispered. He smiled a sad smile, ruffled your hair, and retreated back to his seat where he continued to tap away on his phone. You turned back to look through the windscreen, confusion making your brow furrow as you noticed the map on the dash. 

“Clint, where are we going?” 

He smiled at you wryly. 

“A safe house.”

\----

It was dawn when Tony gently shook you awake, warning you that you were about to land. You yawned and stretched, muscles sore from where you’d been curled up on a chair for hours. Looking out the window, all you could see were trees and fields as the quinjet began its descent, and you turned a puzzled look to Clint. The archer merely smirked, leaving you to watch as you landed on the edge of a forest, a large farmhouse the only building in sight. 

You stood from your seat as the jet powered down, the way you swayed a little on the spot serving as a reminder of having your head smashed against the floor. Goddamn Maximoffs. Clint was the first off the jet, supporting a still dazed Natasha as he led the way up the dirt road towards the house. Tony and Bruce followed close behind, talking quietly, Thor wandering a few paces behind, still distracted by what he’d seen. You and Steve both went to descend the ramp at the same time, jumping back a step when you nearly collided. You giggled sharply, the sound fake and foreign to your own ears. 

Steve shot you a quick smile, and before you got up the courage to say something, he had brushed past you down the ramp. Snapping your mouth shut, you sighed and trudged up the path behind the others. The whole way, you stared at the back of Steve’s head, unsure of your next move. 

The vision had freaked you out, reopened healed wounds and forced you to remember long repressed thoughts. Seeing Cesar die again made you relive the loss, and the couple of times your eyes had drifted towards Steve on the flight, you had quickly glanced away as your brain screamed at you to stop. 

At first, you thought it was guilt. Your first love had died protecting you, and you would never forget him, or ever stop loving him, but now you were experiencing feelings for someone else for the first time since. However, you’d been thinking about this for hours on the jet, and now you thought maybe it was fear. Like most people, your biggest fear in the world was losing the people you loved, and you’d just had a very vivid reminder of what that felt like. 

How could you start something with Steve when every day of your lives ran the risk of one or both or you dying in combat? You couldn’t lose someone like that again, and it was safer to push him away to a friendly distance rather than a romantic one. You’d be lying to yourself if you said it still didn’t hurt how Steve had not said a single word to you since the fight. He was usually the first to check in with you after a mission, even just sitting with you in solidarity when you didn’t feel like talking. Yet this time, despite the obvious distress you were showing, even when blood had been gushing from your hand, he’d barely even blinked at you. 

_ You shouldn't be taking it so personally _ , you scolded yourself. 

He'd seen something that had messed with him the same as you and Nat and Thor. You weren’t the priority right now. You continued staring at the back of his head, wondering what he’d seen that had him so shaken up. At one point his shoulders stiffened, as if he’d finally felt your unending stare, but he didn’t turn around. Shaking your head, you turned your attention to the safe house.

For a safe house, it sure did look like, well, a house. A home. Furniture on the porch, nice curtains in the window, and several pairs of trainers by the welcome mat. You tilted your head in confusion, thanking Steve quietly when he held the door open for you without looking around. 

“Honey? I’m home!” 

Clint’s soft shout echoed through the house, and you looked around in further confusion as he led the team to a stop in an open plan kitchen and sitting room. Your fingers hovered over the pistol still strapped to your thigh in habit, Tony quickly batting your hand away from it as you stood by his side. You shot him a small, halfhearted glare, but crossed your arms over your chest instead. 

You were just about to ask Clint where you were when a brunette, heavily pregnant woman entered the kitchen, kids drawings in her arms as she looked at the team with the same confusion you were giving her. 

“Hi,” the woman said softly, glancing across all your faces before settling on Clint. You blinked several times, fighting off the headache from your earlier beating to recall where you knew her from. As she and Clint kissed, your mind snapped into place.

“Laura!” you exclaimed, aware of the team turning to you in confusion as you pushed your way through them to where Laura was pulling out of Clint’s embrace. She smiled at you, reaching her arms out to hug you as she giggled. 

“So you do remember me then, I wasn’t sure if you would,” she explained, pulling away after a moment to look at your battered face in concern, before grinning. “You were on a lot of drugs when we met.”

You and Clint laughed as you reminisced on the meeting. The two of you had been on a mission in Florida several years ago, tracking down a retired HYDRA buyer for information on shady dealings when things had gone to shit and you both ended up in the hospital after getting caught in an explosion. While you were there, Laura had come to visit Clint, and you’d met her briefly. You knew you’d had a conversation with her, probably about what Clint was like outside the Avengers, but you’d been on a lot of morphine at the time, and had completely forgotten the conversation immediately. By the next morning, she was gone again. 

You and Clint hadn’t spoken about it, but it was then that you realised he trusted you. It was one thing when he covered you on the battlefield, or sided with you in an argument over the best course of action against Tony, but to let you in on the secret of his family - that meant the world to you. 

After that mission, every time he left to spend a couple of days ‘at his apartment’, you’d always send him off with trinkets you’d picked up on missions abroad, and he always came back with baked goods. You hadn’t seen her since, or ever met the kids for that matter, which was why you hadn’t recognised her straight away. 

Also your brain was possibly bleeding, but it was fine.

“This is an agent of some kind,” Tony muttered to Thor behind you, and you rolled your eyes as you stood at Laura's side. 

“Gentleman, this is Laura,” introduced Clint, said woman smiling welcomingly.

“I know all your names.”

There was a clatter of footsteps above you and Clint muttered about trouble under his breath, moving towards the door to catch the children that came barreling round the corner. You watched, amused, as the boys looked more confused by the second. 

“These are smaller agents,” Tony stated slowly, and you scoffed at the billionaire. 

Your face turned a little bitter as you watched the little girl - Lila, you recalled - rushing to hug Nat as Clint pulled his son and wife in for a hug. You slinked slowly to stand at Bruce’s side, suddenly uncomfortable with your surroundings. Some of the children in your memory were barely older than Clint’s kids.

_ Pale faces, blood splattered uniforms. Tattered bodies laying and staring emptily towards the sky.  _

You winced at the sudden flashback, your hand darting upwards to grip your head, but you tried to play it off as crossing your arms as you felt Steve’s gaze on you. With forceful effort, you attempted to focus on the conversation as Clint explained how Fury had been helping him keep his family secret, but you were still exhausted despite the nap, and you desperately needed to do something to take your mind off your memories. 

When Thor suddenly strode from the room, you guessed he was heading off to face whatever he had seen, and you were half tempted to follow him and ask him to get you out of here. Instead, you watched Steve follow him, took a breath, and fixed a real-enough smile on your face. Then you stepped forward, punched Clint on the shoulder, and told him to introduce his kids to you. He did so immediately, Cooper taking an instant shine to you when he spotted the knives strapped to your arm. Laura’s face instantly froze in worry, but you laughed it off, distracting him by showing off your powers of invisibility. It was fifteen minutes later, when you, Cooper and Tony passed a ball back and forth as Lila, Bruce and Nat looked on that you realised that Steve hadn’t returned. 

\----

The hot water beat into your back, washing away sweat, blood and sand, and instantly you felt better. The farm felt like a haven right now, you and your team sheltered away from the world with adorable kids and a gracious, motherly host to distract you from the reality of the situation. The Maximoff’s were beyond powerful, and them and Ultron had disappeared without a trace once again. You’d spent the time since the fight wallowing in your self pity, stuck in the horror of your past, but now you finally shook yourself into reality and began worrying about the actual threat. You needed to get back into tracking down Ultron as soon as possible, and resigned yourself to doing that as soon as you’d finished cleaning up. You sighed, allowing yourself another moment to enjoy the shower before finally turning it off and stepping out. 

You patted yourself dry with a fluffy towel, then pulled on a pair of leggings and a hoodie you were pretty sure belonged to Thor that you kept in your locker on the quinjet. You towel dried your hair as best you could and left it loose around your shoulders, exiting the bathroom in a cloud of steam to see Bruce sat at the window. 

He apparently hadn’t heard you, and so you called his name gently as you tossed your towel into the washing basket. He jumped slightly and clutched at the robe in his hand, turning to you with a startled look. You raised an eyebrow.

“Are you ok?” 

He smiled shakily, shrugging slightly.

“As good as any of us can be right now, I guess,” he answered drily, a self deprecating smirk on his face. You huffed a wry laugh and walked up to him, squeezing his shoulder lightly. 

“No one blames you for what happened, Bruce. At least, not those who know the truth.”

He stood with a sigh, rubbing a hand through his hair tiredly.

“I know. Doesn’t help though, does it?”

You frowned lightly in sympathy, letting him move past you to take his turn showering.

You wanted to say something to make him feel better, but you knew him well enough to know that you couldn’t help him right now. So instead, you settled your mind on the task at hand - tracking. At least that would help the team. You made your way through the house, smiling as you heard Lila and Laura playing in her room. Yeah, you were really appreciating the homeliness of this place. 

Realising all your equipment was still on the jet, you let yourself out onto the porch, squinting in the sudden sunlight. You basked in the warm glow on your face and walked to the stairs, quickly spotting Tony and Steve out in the field. The two men were chopping firewood, eager to do something useful to thank Laura for opening her home to the lot of you. 

You paused, hands slipping into your pockets as you watched them talk, unable to hear their words but seeing their body language quickly move into that of an argument. Part of you thought you should step in, part of you thought you should leave them to it and carry on your mission to the jet, but you found yourself doing neither. 

Steve was wearing one of his absurdly tight training shirts, and his muscles bulged as he continually swung the axe into the wood. You were brought out of your reverie by the squeak of the door behind you. Light footsteps approached, and you turned to find a smirking Natasha watching the boys over your shoulder.

“We should probably intervene before that axe ends up in someones head.”

You turned back to face them as she spoke, just in time to see Steve rip apart a piece of wood with his bare hands. The breath stopped in your chest as you gaped in wonder at the super soldier. 

“Did that just happen or has my mind gone into some sort of sexually-deprived fantasy?”

Nat stepped up to your side, arms folded over her chest, still in her dirty mission wear.

“No, that actually just happened. You are one lucky girl,” she commented with a sly side eye at you, which you returned with a glare that carried no heat. 

“Natasha, stop.”

The redhead sighed and turned to walk back into the house. 

“Fine, later then,” she called playfully, and you rolled your eyes without turning to face her. Seeing Laura step up to talk to them broke you out of your trance, and you jogged down the steps to walk to the jet, staring at the grass under your feet to avoid looking at Steve again. 

Watching him rip apart solid wood with his hands had triggered all sorts of wonderings about what else he could do with those hands, and you needed to distract yourself with work before you jumped him where he stood, consequences and earlier worries be damned. 

You’d planned on grabbing what you needed and finding a corner of the house to start working, but the quiet of the jet was too tempting to pass on right now. Grabbing two laptops, you raised the ramp of the jet so you could sit in the open bay door, swinging your legs off the side with the view of the fields and the house in the distance as you began tapping away at the keyboards, turning from screen to screen as you ran several programmes and made your way through your list of contacts to see if anyone had heard anything. 

You quickly lost track of time, but the sun was directly on your legs by the time you came up for air. It was then that you spotted a figure dressed in black making their way towards you. You raised a hand to block the sun, squinting to try and make out who it was, spare hand reaching for the pistol that sat next to you. As the figure got closer, you realised it was Nick Fury, and you released the gun as a fresh wave of confusion washed over you. 

“What the hell are you doing here?” you called out when he was close enough to hear, shutting the laptops and jumping down to the ground. He stopped a few paces from you, lifting his arms up in a half shrug as he looked back at the farmhouse.

“Heard we had a world to save, thought I might be able to help.”

You stood by his side, chewing your lip as you heard the distant shout of Laura calling the kids in for lunch. 

“We could do with all the help we can get,” you muttered dejectedly, pinching the bridge of your nose in an attempt to alleviate the headache you felt swarming. 

“Accepting my help? You must be desperate,” he joked, shooting you a challenging look. “Come on, Spectre,” he said, ambling over to the side of the jet to press the button that lowered the walkway. “Show me what you’ve got so far.”

“What makes you think I’ve got anything?” you questioned, begrudgingly following him up the ramp and watching as he opened your discarded laptops. 

“‘Cause there’s a good reason I put you on this team.” 

\----

  
  


You spent several hours with Fury, pouring over information and surveillance and possible leads. You now had more of an idea what the next step was, but not by much. When the sun began to lower, you and Fury decided to end the search and head back to the house for coffee. After pouring you both mugs of the steaming liquid, the former Director disappeared to find Stark, and you decided to follow the squeals of joy coming from the front room. Sipping from your mug, you laughed in glee as you turned the corner to find the source of the laughter. The whole room had been turned into a pillow fort, sheets draped between sofas and bookcases, cushions covering every inch of the floor. 

Carefully placing your coffee on the windowsill, you crouched on your hands and knees and stuck your head through the blankets to the middle of the tent. Lila, Cooper and Natasha were all cramped in the tent around a pole that held up the centre, Nat still having to hunch slightly to fit under the drooping roof.

“Room for another one?” 

The three cheered in reply, and you crawled in to join them. The fort was softly lit with fairy lights, an old Disney film playing on a laptop that Cooper and Nat were watching as Lila coloured in her book. You squished up close to Lila, practically laying on top of her to make her giggle as you asked about her colouring, and then the film. Once you said you hadn’t seen it, it became her sworn mission to educate you on the intricacies of the doggy love story. 

The movie finished up about an hour later, and soon after Laura stuck her head in to tell the kids it was time to finish their homework before dinner. The two moaned loudly, pleading to stay with you and Natasha in the tent, but reluctantly followed their mum out of the room when she resisted their puppy dog eyes. Beaming widely, you fell back onto the cushions and arched your back until it clicked satisfyingly. Nat stretched out beside you, propping her head on her elbow as she lay on her side.

“We are two highly trained assassins and field agents, raised in schools to be weapons and show no emotions, lying in a kids’ pillow fort after being fed Cheerios and enduring a lesson on Disney films. How did we get here?” you asked the redhead, eyes shining as you took in how relaxed Natasha was after the disaster the day before.

“I don’t know,” she replied, returning your smile. “But I sure am grateful.”

You lay in comfortable silence for several minutes, eyes fixed on the patterned bed sheet that was currently your roof, when Natasha suddenly smirked at you wickedly.

“What happened at the party the other night? And don’t say ‘nothing’, or give me a smart answer because we both know I already know, I just want details.”

You let out an exaggerated groan, then propped yourself up to whack her in the stomach with a spare cushion.

“Why do you need details, you perv?”

“Oh, so it was perverted, huh?"

You turned red at her lascivious expression, and pushed yourself up to make a leap for the gap in the sheets and the freedom beyond it, but she anticipated your reaction and parked herself right in the way, still smirking.

You huffed, sitting back down and playing with the cushion in your lap. Of course you could phase through the sheets and hide in the fields using your invisibility, but you knew the conversation was inevitable. Also, she was your closest female friend, and a little bit of you was dying to talk about what had happened. 

“Well, we were actually talking about-” you stopped yourself from saying ‘you and Bruce’, wanting to save that conversation for another time as she’d only deny it anyway. “-people refusing to acknowledge their feelings out of fear, and how sometimes you just have to go for it...and then we kissed, and it was the greatest kiss of my life, I mean I honestly was not expecting  _ that  _ but  _ wow.  _ Then after everything went to shit and we headed back to our rooms we kissed again, and he said how he wanted to take me on a date, and then yesterday before the fight he kissed me again and it was just so perfect.”

You sighed, glancing up from your lap to meet Nat’s intense stare that urged you to carry on.

“And then Maximoff triggered memories of the Academy and I saw Cesar.”

Surprised, Nat raised an eyebrow and frowned sympathetically. She knew all about Cesar. It had taken so long for you to be able to even say his name, but you’d reached the point a couple of years back when you finally admitted to yourself that in order to move on, you had to talk about your past, and Nat was a trusted and willing listener.

“It freaked me out, being back there and rewatching what happened. Now I’m worried about getting involved with a teammate again. I can’t go through that again, not ever.” You huffed in frustration and threw your head down against the pillows. “But then I also know I’m sabotaging myself and giving up the chance of something incredible because of fear, and I hate that.”

You paused and sighed, but didn’t give Nat a chance to reply as you steam rolled on.

“Not that it even matters anymore because Steve hasn’t even looked at me since the fight. Whatever he saw really freaked him out but how can I help him when he’s literally run away everytime I’ve been near him. He won’t even look at me for fuck sake! He’s willingly spent most of the day with  _ Tony  _ so that he doesn’t have to speak to me.  _ Tony! _ ”

You threw your hands up in frustration and rolled over so that you were face down, groaning into a pillow as you waited for Nat to think through your blurted speech and give you some helpful advice.

“You really are an idiot.”

Scowling, you flipped back over to glare at your so-called friend. She merely rolled her eyes at your theatrics and fixed you with one of her famous stares that seemed to shoot through to your soul.

“Myshka, he’s probably thinking the exact same thing about you. Whatever he saw, it hit him hard, which means it was probably something related to his past. You know how much guilt and regret he has from what happened to Barnes and to Peggy, it was probably about one of them. He thinks he let them down, and the likelihood is that he’s now projecting those feelings on to you. He doesn’t think he’s good enough, so he tells himself that pushing you away is the best thing to do. Honestly, your brains are so similar it’s scary.”

You stared blankly at the floor as you mulled over her words slowly, Natasha sitting patiently as she waited for your moment of revelation. 

“So, I should just...talk to him?”

The blank stare that you received was answer enough, and you laughed awkwardly.

“Yeah, ok, I should have been able to figure that one out myself.”

Nat rolled her eyes and smiled, crawling through the gap in the blankets with a grin over her shoulder. 

“That’s why I’m here, sestra, to make sure you get laid.” 

You couldn’t help but laugh as you followed her out of the tent, feeling lighter than you had all day. Wordlessly, you wrapped the assassin in a tight hug. She said nothing either, simply threading her arms around you in return as you began planning out what to say to Steve in your head, once again eager to get him alone.


	4. crossed wires

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's quite a lot of dialogue straight from the film in here, but hopefully that doesn't deter you!

  
  
  


Steve felt awful ignoring you, but everytime he plucked up the courage to talk to you, he chickened out. He was frustrated beyond belief with himself, lamenting his cowardice. The vision, seeing the Peggy from his past had shaken him deeply, the teasing view of what could have been replaying in his mind throughout the day. 

He knew he felt deeply for you. He’d known it for months, even if he hadn’t fully admitted it to himself until recently. And now, when he finally thought he had you, the two of you had been ripped apart by the psychological meddling of a dangerous enhanced. He sighed for the umpteenth time, ripping the page of scrawlings out of the sketchbook and tossing it in the bin. Sketching usually helped calm his mind, and he figured that with the beautiful landscape before him he could distract himself with the borrowed art supplies. Yet he couldn’t stop thinking that he had royally screwed up - both on the mission and with you. 

He leant back into the rickety chair, staring out beyond the porch he sat on to the expansive fields and woods that stretched before him. He would always love Peggy, but she had told him countless times that that shouldn’t stop him from moving on and being happy with someone else. He knew that, had come to terms with the lost time with Peggy a while ago, but seeing what could have been terrified him. He no longer yearned for that relationship, but he also couldn’t deny the flicker of happiness he’d felt dancing with her in his dreams. 

Was it unfair to you to pursue a new relationship when he had a voice in his head asking ‘what if?’. Then he thought of the Peggy he knew now, the one laying in a bed in a retirement home, happy with her life and her husband and family. She still loved him, but it was different to what it had been. She could treasure the past, keep those special memories, and still move on with her life - why couldn’t he?

At that moment, a sudden shrill scream had him leaping up from his chair and scanning the yard to his left. He looked on in surprise as Lila appeared to fly through the air, Cooper jumping and trying to grab her as Clint looked on fondly. Then you reappeared, dropping the invisibility you’d been using as you heaved Lila around the air to entertain the kids who were fascinated by your abilities. You were laughing wildly, a carefree expression on your face that had his heart squeezing. Avoiding you wasn’t making this easier for him, it was just proving that he needed you like he needed air. 

Lips quirking into a smile, he sat back down and picked up the pencil and sketchbook. He drew you carefully, focusing on every detail of your face, constantly glancing up to watch you play with the kids for reference. For you, he could do it. He could move on.

\----

“Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time. We think he's building something. The amount of Vibranium he made off with, I don't think it's just one thing.” Fury explained to the team from where he leant against a kitchen counter. It was dark now, and after a dinner with the family, the kids were being taken up to bed by Laura as your team sat around the kitchen to discuss what you and Fury had spent the afternoon finding out. 

Tony was mindlessly throwing darts at the board on the wall, Bruce and Nat sat at the table, and you and Clint were putting away the last of the dishes. 

“What about Ultron himself?” asked Steve, crossing his arms and leaning against the door jamb. 

“He’s everywhere,” you replied over your shoulder as you stacked dishes in a cupboard. “His ability to travel through the internet is turning into a real pain in the ass for us.”

“Guy's multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit. Still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans though,” continued Fury, pouring himself an iced tea as you put away the last of the wine glasses.

Reclaiming your beer, you hopped up to sit on the kitchen counter, swinging your feet as you wrapped Thor’s hoodie tighter around you to fight off the chill. 

“He’s still going after launch codes?” 

“Yes, he is, but he's not making any headway,” Fury replied to Tony, pacing slowly in thought. 

“According to NEXUS, the codes are being constantly changed,” you elaborated, taking another sip as you watched Tony miss the bullseye.

“By who?” asked Banner, adjusting his glasses as he looked at you.

You shrugged. “They thought we were doing it, so who knows.”

“We have an ally?” Natasha’s voice was hopeful, and you hummed disappointedly as Fury emphasized that a shared enemy didn’t make you allies.

“Wait, go back, what’s NEXUS?” Steve interrupted, brow furrowed at you.

“It's the world internet hub in Oslo, every byte of data flows through there, fastest access on earth,” explained Bruce before you could, immediately turning back to you and Fury. “Is that all we have?”

“Yeah, I gotta say boss,” Nat drawled, agreeing with Bruce, “I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that.”

“I do, I have you. Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere, ears everywhere else. Here we all are, back on Earth, with nothing but our wit, and our will to save the world. So stand. Outwit the platinum bastard.” 

You and Nat made eye contact across the table and turned to Steve with a smirk. 

“Steve doesn't like that kind of talk,” you mocked in unison, drawing a snort from Tony and Clint. 

“You know what, you two are being benched the second this is over,” he reprimanded jokingly, grinning at you for the first time all day. Your heart fluttered, and you smiled back through your laughter.

“So what does he want?” prompted Fury, sitting heavily in a chair.

You tuned out slightly, distractedly watching Steve as he turned back to the conversation. Even before the kiss, the two of you had been the closest of friends, and you had never gone so long without talking. Your smile slipped slowly into a frown, and you looked away to rejoin the conversation. 

“Ultron’s going to evolve,” Bruce realised, staring at Lila’s butterfly painting that Nat had been gifted. He gulped, then looked up to the team with worry in his eyes. “Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?”

  
  


\----

“Approaching the lab - Cap, Spectre, you’re up!”

Checking your gear one last time as the jet touched down, you slung the rifle over your back and followed Steve down the ramp. The two of you quickly moved to the side of the roof and ducked low as the jet immediately took off again, covering your eyes from the kick up of dust and wind.

“Three minutes. Stay close,” ordered Steve into his comms, slowly rising to his feet to look out over the genetics lab below you. You stood by his side, squinting at the impressive building.

“One road exit, perfect. I’ll set up here and cover you,” you reassured, slinging the rifle round to check the scope. Steve didn’t reply, and you lowered the sniper to meet his steady gaze. 

“I’m sorry,” he blurted, taking you by surprise. “I’ve been pushing you away because of what I saw, and that’s not fair on either of us. I just wanted you to know, I’m sorry if it seemed like I wasn’t worried about you, or that I didn’t want to be near you. It was actually the opposite.”

You sighed, fiddling with your rifle. “You don’t need to apologise, Steve. We both saw things we needed to work through on our own, I realise that now.” You smiled, bumping your fist into his shoulder. “I don’t think now’s the time to talk about this though Cap, we got a world to save.”

He huffed a laugh and shook his head.

“We’re ok?” he questioned lowly, brushing his hand down your arm.

You nodded, smiling again. “Yeah. we’re ok.”

He grinned in return, then kissed your forehead quickly and began to jog away from you, leaping the railing to make his way to the lab. 

You exhaled slowly, a weight lifting off your shoulders now that you had finally cleared the air between you. There was undoubtedly a long, brutally honest conversation on the horizon, but at least for now you were speaking again. You’d been worried about going into a fight on bad terms with a teammate, as that went against every rule in the Avengers handbook.

Spirits lifted, you crouched behind the railing and used a random crate to set up your sniping position, steadying your scope on the exit and scanning the building every now and then. A minute later, after Steve confirmed Cho was alive, you were watching several of the guards gathering at their station when a truck swerved out of the lab’s parking lot and onto the bridge towards the city. You squinted, zooming in as far as possible to try and see inside the drivers cab. 

“There’s a truck leaving the facility now, heading North on the bridge towards the city. Guessing it might be our guys as a robot appears to be in the driver’s seat,” you spoke into your comms, keeping your rifle trained on the truck. “I don’t have a shot at the driver, but I can take out their wheels and we can converge on the target?”

“Negative,” came the panted reply from the Captain, “If that truck crashes, the gem could level the city. We need to draw out Ultron.”

You swore lightly under your breath, the truck descending the looped road meaning you lost your visual. Dropping the rifle, you pushed up onto your feet and spotted the quinjet hovering by the bridge. 

“It’s right under you, Barton, just about to merge onto the highway.”

Clint didn’t reply, but you saw the jet swerve around in the air to follow the truck. 

“Going in!”

At Steve’s announcement, you raised your rifle and looked through the scope just in time to see Steve crash down on the roof of the truck as it appeared on the highway. You rolled your eyes and slung the rifle onto your back as the road disappeared beyond your view.

“Commandeering a vehicle, I'll try to block them off,” you stated, carefully parkouring across the roofs to a side road where a car sat empty outside a bar. Steve hated when you stole vehicles, but sometimes it was necessary.

“Spectre, I can come and get you, Nat’s on the floor already.”

You just grinned, jumpstarting the car and roaring towards the highway, following the gps you’d pulled up on your phone.

“I got a ride, no worries!”

You listened carefully as your team called out updates to each other, careening around cars as fast as you dared as you finally reached the turning for the highway. Soaring wildly around the corner, you spotted the truck up ahead, Steve and Ultron duking it out on top, as Natasha careered onto a pedestrian bridge to avoid the bots taking shots at her from the back of the truck.

One hand on the wheel, you lowered your window and stuck your pistol out, firing rapidly at the metal creatures. One took a hit to the face just before Steve went flying off the truck to crash into the roof of a car. Raising your gun to take a shot at Ultron, the AI raised his hands and a whole chunk of the road suddenly lifted up in front of you and Steve. 

The car Steve clung to didn’t have time to slow down and went rolling over the new obstruction, while you dropped your pistol in your rush to slam on the brakes and fling the steering wheel to the left to skid to a halt. Your tires screeched unhappily, coming to a complete stop just before it collided with the floating section of road. Swearing under your breath, you made a run out of the car, collecting your weapon and darting to the other side of the road to loop around the ruined road in front of you, where you promptly flung open the door of a silver Ford.

“Hi, sorry, I need to borrow this, thanks,” you rushed, breathing heavily as you pulled the man from the car. He started yelling in Korean, and you smiled apologetically as you got into the car and hit the accelerator. “Send the bill to Tony Stark!”

You raced to catch up to the truck, swerving to the side when a sudden burst of fire came from the quinjet, the henchmen bots taking the bait and soaring into the sky after the quinjet. With a violent crash, Ultron tackled Steve and the two went soaring into a passing train.

“They’re heading back towards you. So whatever you're going to do, Nat, do it now,” warned Clint, and sure enough you spotted the bots come soaring towards you. 

“Y/N, think you can slow this thing down?” 

“I’ll give it a go,” you replied to Nat with a smirk.

Pushing the car even harder, you sped up to drive parallel to the front of the truck. Drawing your pistol again, you rapid-fired into the head of the bot that was driving, taking several shots before it ‘died’ and the truck began to slow down. 

“Driver’s down,” you shouted into the comms, turning back to the road just in time to thread between a parked car and a road bollard.

“I'm going in,” Nat replied, and you spotted her bike approaching the truck in your rearview mirror. “Cap, can you keep him occupied?”

“What do you think I've been doing?”

The truck had slowed down, but was still rolling steadily down the sloped road, heading straight for parked cars and a police blockade.

“Ah, fuck,” you mumbled, hitting the accelarator again before speaking into the comms. “Nat, you might need to hold on.”

Once you were level with the truck, you crossed in front of it and braked as best you could, the truck impacting with your car heavily enough to shake you in your seat and crush your door. The truck’s weight meant that, even with it’s lack of speed, the momentum still pushed your car down the road, but every second it fought against your braking car it slowed down a little bit more. So you gritted your teeth and steered into the truck to give your wheels more traction on the road, praying the truck would stop before it smashed into the police officers who for some reason _weren’t moving,_ concerned for both Nat and the possible explosion of the gem if the truck did crash. 

You were slowing it to a halt when the truck suddenly ripped apart from the cab with enough force to lift the now-detached bed. Unfortunately, the front bumper was locked under your car, and you were suddenly flipped over, your car rolling violently several times before coming to a stop on its hood. 

“Fuck!” you exclaimed, dangling from what was now the ceiling as your seatbelt did its best to hold on. Slowly undoing the buckle, you held on to the headrest and lowered yourself onto the floor, coughing violently through the smoke. The window was shattered, and you drug yourself through it to lay on the ground, eyes squeezed shut as you groaned in pain. 

Slowly sitting up, you held your head in one hand and looked around you. The train, truck and quinjet were all gone. 

“Uh, guys, where’d the party go?” 

“Follow the road to the right,” shouted Clint, and you looked behind you to see the glint of the quinjet and the truck soaring through the air. Heaving a sigh, you stood up on shaky legs, taking a second to test that nothing was broken or bleeding too badly before jogging to another car. 

“Steve’s gonna be real mad when he finds out,” you mumbled under your breath, taking off down the road and leaving behind a group of very confused police. Distractedly wiping a drip of blood from your temple, you followed the road to catch up to the others. You were nearly level with the quinjet when Nat and the Cradle came rocketing out of the truck and into the back of the jet.

“Nat!” You and Clint cried in unison as you watched Ultron grab her ankle and tear her from the quinjet, soaring away as the truck exploded in the air. You listened as Steve ordered Clint to get the Cradle to Tony, glancing between the road and your phone screen as you drove towards the blip on your map that showed Steve’s position. 

“Clint, just go, I’ve got Steve!”

You heard Clint swear in reply, but sure enough the jet spun around and blasted off into the horizon. Focusing back on the road, you left the highway to speed down smaller side streets until you spotted the runaway train screeching down the road in front of you, blocking the exit. Reversing slightly, you squeezed the car down an alley on your right, following the grid pattern until eventually you glanced to the left to see a road that wasn’t blocked by the train. 

Turning left, you checked the train was definitely stopped before you pulled in front of it, quickly shifting the car into park and throwing the door open to step out. The destroyed train was smoking, finally stopped at the side of a market, and you immediately ran forward to join the crowd who were helping people out of the carriages. 

Leading an elderly woman to sit on a stool offered up by a market stall owner, you finally spotted Steve, hunched over in the drivers pod. You were even more surprised when you saw the Maximoff twins at the side of the road, Wanda supporting her heavily panting brother. Leaving the old lady with a younger woman, you pulled the rifle from your back, snapped off the scope and pointed it at Wanda as you stalked up to them. 

The click of the gun caught the brothers' attention, and both twins looked up at you with their hands raised in a placating manner as you scowled at them. 

“Y/N, it’s ok,” came a call from your right, and you heard Steve march towards you, eyes fixed on the twins. You gave him a once over, and he seemed to be uninjured, so you quickly turned back to the siblings. Despite Steve’s assurance, you didn’t lower your weapon, watching them silently as Steve approached them.

“The Cradle. Did you get it?”

Steve paused for a second at Wanda’s question before nodding. “Stark will take care of it.”

“No, he won’t,” Wanda replied, tone almost pitying. 

“Forgive us if we don’t respect your opinion seeing as you were tryna’ kill us 24 hours ago,” you called sarcastically. Wanda turned to glare at you before glancing at your weapon, still trained on her heart, and reluctantly backed down.

“You don't know what you're talking about, Stark's not crazy,” assured Steve.

“He will do anything to make things right,” argued Wanda, and you scoffed loudly.

“And that makes him a terrible person?” You demanded, grip tightening on your gun despite Steve giving you a look that clearly said ‘cool it’. “He’s been trying to make things right for years, he makes mistakes, but he’s not an idiot.”

“Ultron can't tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it. Where do you think he gets that?” 

You exhaled heavily through your nostrils and dropped your gun to hang on its strap, tugging your phone out of your pocket. 

“What are you doing?” questioned Steve, a puzzled look on his face as you tapped a few buttons then lifted the phone to your ear. You looked at him, then the twins, turning away as Maria answered the call. 

“Getting us out of here.”

\----

“Hill, clear the hangar, ETA 3 minutes,” you spoke into the microphone, immediately receiving a ‘roger that, all clear’. 

You dropped the cloaking technology as you began to descend lower over the New York skyline, not ready to face what you were going to find waiting for you. Steve sat next to you, not even trying to hide his concerns as he watched the twins who sat silently on a bench at the opposite end of the jet. Neither of you trusted them, but you also couldn't afford to turn them away if they were truly on your side, and so for now you would just have to keep a constant eye on them.

“Stark wouldn’t do anything stupid, right? Not again, not with so much at stake,” you whispered, confident that between the distance and the rumble of the jet the twins couldn’t hear you. Steve sighed, taking off his helmet to run a hand through tousled hair. 

“I hope not.”

“I hate to admit it, but she does have a point,” you muttered, flicking a few switches on the dash as the Avengers Tower appeared on the horizon. “Guess we just have to hope he’s not a total fucking moron.”

Steve laughed quietly, shaking his head in mock disapproval. 

“Honestly, the mouth on you,” he sighed, lips quirking into a small smile.

You winked in return, easing the jet down onto the landing pad and turning off the engine. 

Fixing his helmet to his belt, Steve turned back into Captain America mode as he strode intimidatingly to the back of the jet, smashing the button to lower the ramp with his fist as he gave the twins a hard stare.

“Don’t try anything,” he warned in a commanding voice, leading the way off the jet. The twins glanced at each other before looking at you, and you crossed your arms with a smirk, nodding your head at the ramp to encourage them to follow the Captain. 

As you approached the lab, you could hear Bruce and Tony conversing over the humming of machines. 

“The genetic coding tower's at ninety-seven percent. You have got to upload that schematic in the next three minutes.”

The four of you turned the corner as Bruce spoke, Tony’s face immediately becoming frustrated when he saw you all. 

“I'm gonna say this once-”

“How about nonce?” Tony interrupted Steve, turning away to continue whatever it was he was doing. 

“Shut it down!”

“Nope, not gonna happen.”

You sighed, stepping around Pietro to talk directly to Bruce. 

“Whatever it is you’re doing, are you really sure it’s a good idea?” Bruce hesitated at your question, but Steve steamrolled on.

“You don’t know what you’re doing.”

Instantly, Bruce was on the defensive, irritation clear on his face as he stepped towards Steve. 

“And you do? She’s not in your head?”

“I know you're angry,” Wanda started in a placating tone as Bruce stared her down, quickly interjecting before she could continue.

“Oh, we're way past that. I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade.”

As the others continued to bicker, you silently stepped towards Bruce, one hand raised in a calming manner as the other hand whispered over your sidearm. Then there was a rush of air that sent papers flying as Pietro rushed around the room unplugging cables.

“No, no. Go on. You were saying?”

Before anyone could continue arguing, a gunshot rang out and everyone ducked as the glass beneath Pietro shattered, sending him sprawling to the floor beneath. Wanda yelled his name as Clint stood over the boy, ready and waiting for an excuse to take another shot. The machine beeped aggressively, and Tony stepped up to the computer. 

“I’m rerouting the upload.”

Without hesitation, Steve flung his shield and let it bounce between the machines, sparks flying everywhere. In the chaos, you saw one of Tony’s gauntlets wrap around his hand, a blast of his lasers sending Steve to the floor as Bruce grabbed Wanda in a chokehold.

“Go ahead, piss me off,” he goaded, the brunette struggling in his grasp. Clint came running up the stairs, gun cocked, and you pulled out your own firearm, unsure of who to even point it at. Tony, now in several pieces of his suit, started throwing punches at Steve, the two knocking each other back to opposite sides of the room. Wanda sent a red blast of her powers through her own chest to push Bruce away, turning to hit him again as he stumbled, and you quickly raised your gun to point it directly at her temple.

“Enough!” you yelled, trying to make your voice as authoritative as possible to break through the squabbling. Everyone turned to you, and you realised you really hadn’t thought through your next step. Luckily, you didn’t have to do anything as Thor suddenly appeared, decked in his armor, and jumped to stand on top of the Cradle. Lightning crackled blindingly throughout the room, gathering at his raised hammer, and Bruce’s plea to wait fell on deaf ears as Thor directed the power towards the machines. 

Squinting against the light, your eyes were drawn to the screen emitting loud, fast beeps as its power input bar soared beyond capacity. After several long seconds, Thor lowered his hammer and the room darkened dramatically, but nothing happened. 

Until a second later when the Cradle exploded, sending Thor flying through the air. You’d backed away when Thor had started striking lightning at the thing, but you were still close enough that you had to dive to the floor to avoid being knocked out by the flying chunks of metal. You’d spent way too much time diving for cover the last few days, and you were really getting sick of it. You rolled onto your back, staring in shock at the naked, red robot-man that was now crouched on top of what remained of the Cradle. You scooted backwards, way too close for comfort, when you were gently tugged up by hands under your armpits. Once he got you on your feet, Steve gently pushed you back with his arm so that he was between you and the mystery figure, eyes never leaving it. 

As it slowly raised into a standing position, you noticed Tony and Clint subtly raise their weapons. Licking your lips, you adjusted your stance and grasped a throwing knife, bouncing on the balls of your feet as you readied for a fight. The android looked around the room, skipping over all your faces to settle on Thor. The God noticed and went to raise his hammer, but the red being launched at him, and Thor quickly reached up to fling the being behind him. 

He crashed through one of the interior windows and sailed towards the exterior window, where he spun himself in the air to come to a halt, floating and staring out at the city. Steve grasped his shield and propelled himself off the balcony to stand behind Thor at the same time as you and Clint both stepped up to the now-broken window, pistols trained on the being’s head. Thor held up a hand to stop the Captain advancing, and everyone in the room stood, waiting with bated breath as it continued to stare out the window. 

Reluctantly, you lowered your gun, clicking on the safety but not putting it away, just in case. Clint did the same, and your eyes turned to each other, nodding warily before you split to either side of the room, descending the staircases to flank Thor and Steve at the centre. Bruce and the twins followed you, Tony behind Clint, all of you watching skeptically as Thor placed his hammer on a table and approached the now-dressed being that floated slowly back to the floor. 

“I'm sorry, that was...odd.” It spoke calmly, turning to Thor. ”Thank you.”

You listened transfixed as Thor shared his revelation of the Infinity Stones, and the group begrudgingly agreed that they needed this ‘visions’ help. When Clint announced that Nat was being held in Sokovia, and it was determined that was where you were heading, you turned your hard gaze to the twins, suspicions still strong in your mind. 

“If we're wrong about you, if you're the monster that Ultron made you to be…” Bruce trailed off, standing directly in front of the android, meeting his eyes unblinkingly. 

“What will you do?” the red-man countered, glancing around the group. “I don't want to kill Ultron. He's unique, and he's in pain. But that pain will roll over the earth, so he must be destroyed. Every form he's built, every trace of his presence on the net, we have to act now. And not one of us can do it without the others. Maybe I am a monster. I don't think I'd know if I were one. I'm not what you are, and not what you intended. So there may be no way to make you trust me. But we need to go.” He finished his speech by brandishing Thor’s hammer, gesturing for him to take it as everyone but the Maximoff’s blinked in surprise.

The android then ambled off, and you raised your eyebrows at Thor as he watched him walk away in confusion before turning back to the group. 

“Right,” he stated, breaking the silence. He walked past Tony, clapping him on the shoulder. “Well done.”

The God of Thunder disappeared in the same direction as the android, and you met Tony’s stare with matching expressions of ‘what the fuck just happened?’.

“Ten minutes. Get what you need,” ordered Steve, and immediately everyone snapped out of their surprise to prepare for the fight. The twins stood awkwardly as Clint, Bruce and Tony gathered in a small circle, muttering quietly. Meanwhile, Steve wandered over to you, raising a hand to gently prise your fingers off your gun. You’d forgotten you were still holding it, quickly tucking it back into its holster as you gave him a shaky smile. Hand now empty, he laced his fingers through yours and dropped his face to be level with yours.

“You ok?” he questioned softly, eyes searching yours. You nodded, wry smile on your face, and he raised his spare hand to push back your tangled hair and gently cup your face. He breathed in deeply, looking as if he was searching for the words he wanted to say and coming up blank. You grinned, squeezing his hand.

“Steve, we’re good. I promise. Now let’s go kick some robot ass.” You shot him a cocky grin and spun on your heels to head to the armory, Clint appearing at your elbow as you walked to the elevator. 

“Let’s go!” you yelled at the twins over your shoulder, and they quickly scurried to join you before the doors could close on them. When the doors dinged open, you reached out to type in the code and complete the biometrics, Clint unsubtly leaning to block what you were doing from their view. Once in, the archer waved at Pietro to follow him to the right, pointing out where he could find things. Wanda wordlessly followed you to the left, towards the station you shared with Nat. 

“I’m guessing you don’t need weapons,” you mused, examining a drawer of pistols as Wanda stared blankly at the floor. “There are clothes in the wardrobe, you can take anything you need. I’ll grab you a comms, and then we’ll get to it. If you’re hungry, there’s protein bars in that drawer on the left. I’d take one if I were you, or you’ll be stuck with Cap’s, and his taste like already-chewed cardboard.” 

The girl barely seemed to register you speaking, and you rolled your eyes as you reached past her for a fresh set of clothes. 

“Don’t touch my guns,” you warned, only half-joking as you rounded the corner to step into the little changing room.

You undressed quickly, taking a second to look over your reflection in the mirror. You hadn’t changed on the flight back from Korea, too preoccupied by your distrust for the twins to do so. Therefore, your clothes were ripped and dirty, smears of dried blood adorning the fabric. Your hair was loose and ratty, a small patch clumped together with sticky blood. One of your cheekbones was slightly swollen, and there was a bruise blossoming on your hip. 

You sighed raggedly, and took off your underwear to have the quickest shower of your life. You then redressed in your new clothes, a long sleeve black kevlar shirt and skin tight black pants, and strapped on your holsters. Stepping into your boots, you tossed your destroyed clothes in a corner to be dealt with later and left the room as you tied your hair back in a ponytail. On your way back through the armory you collected a micro-heavy assault rifle and its special holster, as well as a heavy-duty sniper rifle in its case. You met Wanda at the door as she was pulling on one of your old red leather jackets, passing her and Pietro comms and leading them back to the elevator to head to the roof after realising Clint had already disappeared. 

The twins were quiet, and you turned to them as you tugged on your fingerless gloves. 

“Listen, if you come into this fight with us, you’re part of a team. You listen to what we say, you have our backs, and we’ll have yours. The past doesn’t matter now, we have innocent people to save.”

They nodded solemnly, believing in your words and the gravity of the situation even if they didn’t trust you - that was fine, the feeling was mutual. As the elevator dinged on the top floor, you spotted the rest of the team boarding the jet and jogged to catch up with them, Tony rolling his eyes with an affectionate smile as he saw your arms full of weapons. You grinned cheekily and claimed a seat, placing the assault rifle and sniper case next to you and flipping it open. You began to assemble the weapon, clicking the parts together as Pietro watched you in fascination. The jet took off, and Steve called for attention to give his usual pre-mission pep talk. 

“Ultron knows we're coming. Odds are we'll be riding into heavy fire, and that's what we signed up for. But the people of Sokovia, they didn't. So our priority is getting them out. Keep your comms on at all times, we need updates on the situation.” He folded his arms, looking between everyone on the jet as he spoke. “All they want is to live their lives in peace, and that's not going to happen today. But we can do our best to protect them. And we can get the job done, and find out what Ultron's been building. We find Romanoff, and we clear the field. Keep the fight between us. Ultron thinks we're monsters and we're what's wrong with the world. This isn't just about beating him. It's about whether he's right. Now let’s figure out a plan.”

You put down your assembled weapon and stepped up to the centre table as Tony bought up a hologram of Sokovia. The others followed your lead and surrounded the table, examining the 3D map. 

“The coordinates Nat sent are here,” Clint recounted, pointing at a spot in the mountains on the Eastern outskirts of the city. “Strucker’s base.”

Steve nodded, forming a plan in his head.

“Alright, Banner, you head in and find Nat, get her and yourself out of the city. Thor, go with him, if that’s where Ultron’s been setting up base, we need to search it. Join us in the fight as soon as you can, but if there’s something there you need to take care off, call for backup.” Both men nodded.

“Call for me,” you suggested, zooming the hologram in slightly. “We don’t know who or what is in Strucker’s base, I can cover both the base and the city if I set up here.” You tapped your finger on the side of the mountain, just above where the river valley led into the city. “Once we clear Strucker’s base, I can make my way down the valley to come find you, picking off bots while the rest of you focus on evacuation and taking down Ultron.” 

You glanced between Tony and Steve as they thought through your plan, smiling at Clint as he gave you a nod of approval. 

“That works,” Steve finally agreed, meeting your eyes with a look of admiration. “Take out what you can on the East side of the city, if there’s not a lot going on then make your way through the city to us. Clint, you’ll find a vantage point in the city centre?” 

The archer nodded, and Steve turned to the twins.

“You two, focus on evacuating the city, do whatever you can to get people out of the centre. There’s three roads out of Sokovia, but if you can lead them to the Northern one then do so, at least that way Spectre’s close if anyone tries to stop them.”

You spent the next twenty minutes ironing out details in the plan, coming up with back-ups and troubleshooting possible weaknesses. The group then split up to mentally prepare themselves for what was to come as you flew closer and closer to Ultron. When Clint called out a ten minute warning from the pilot seat, you excused yourself from your conversation with Bruce to retreat into a corner and do some stretches and breathing exercises. It was a pre-battle routine you’d adopted in the Academy, and it always helped clear your head and get into the right mindset. 

You were stretching your hamstrings when Steve approached quietly.

“Mind if I interrupt you for a minute?”

You smiled softly and shook out your legs, taking a seat on the bench and patting the space next to you in invitation. Placing his shield on the floor, he took the seat and leant over to hug you without another word. You inhaled deeply, hiding your face in his neck as he stroked his hands over your back.

“Promise me you’ll be careful? And you won’t do anything stupid?” you whispered in his ear, knowing that he had a habit of going off-book and putting himself in danger. He laughed a little, and you could feel him smirk against your shoulder. 

“You know I can’t promise that, sweetheart,” he murmured, and you sighed sadly, pulling back to meet his gentle stare. “Just like I know I could ask you to make the same promise, and you wouldn’t be able to.”

You smiled guiltily, cupping the back of his neck to drag him in for a kiss, all the fears and doubts brought about from the vision seeming so menial in the face of battle. He kissed you back eagerly, a hand on your back and one on your thigh as he slipped his tongue between your lips. You sighed happily through your nose, dragging him in even closer. 

“Spectre, put the old man down, we got a city to go save if you don’t mind joining us.”

Wrenching your lips from Steve’s, you scowled at a grinning Tony, who merely waggled his eyebrows at your glower. 

“Your drop-point’s coming up, kid, get your chute on!” Clint called over his shoulder. Still smirking, Tony chucked you the parachute he held in his hands and disappeared with a wink. 

You sighed in frustration, turning back to Steve. “Seriously, that’s the _third time_ he’s interrupted us, once this is over we’re leaving him in Sokovia.”

The blonde chuckled, affection in his eyes as he stood and kissed you one more time. 

“Good luck out there.”

“You too.” 

With one last longing look, he disappeared round the corner to talk to the twins, wanting to be sure they knew the plan. You followed him back to the benches where your weapons lay abandoned. Pulling the belt from the pile, you buckled it around your waist and fixed the bottom of the holster around your thigh, slotting the specially designed mini-assault rifle into place. Then you strapped the parachute to your back, and carefully threaded the sniper rifle’s strap over your shoulders so that it lay against your chest. 

“20 seconds, Spectre!”

At Clint’s shout, you started counting down in your head, hitting the button to open the back of the jet as everyone else stood back. The wind whipped around you viciously, and you steadied your breathing as you settled into position for a running start.

“5,4,3,2,1 - give them hell, kid!” 

Without hesitation, you ran full speed towards the open door and propelled yourself out, the familiar feeling of plummeting towards the ground making your stomach roll no matter how many times you did it. In the weak sunlight, you could easily spot the clearing that you and Clint had settled on as a drop point, and you adjusted your trajectory as you rocketed towards the mountain. 

Precisely at the right moment, you tugged on the cord to open your chute, lurching in the air for a second before your descent slowed to a steady speed. You took a second to appreciate the stunning views and breathe in the fresh mountain air before you slipped into battle-mode. Touching down heavily in the grass, you quickly unclipped the parachute and let it fall to the ground, immediately turning and running up the field towards the crumbling path used only by sheep and farmers. It only took a couple of minutes for you to jog to your chosen sniper’s nest, where you immediately lay prone and set up your rifle. You clicked your scope into place and began scanning the city roads for any sign of the bots.

“This is Spectre, I’m in position.” 

“Banner and I are at Strucker’s base, we’ll let you know when we find Natasha.”

“We’ve touched down in the city, beginning evacuation now. Good job, guys, keep in contact.”

“Copy that.”

“Understood, Captain.”

The radio went silent, and you settled into your sniping, picking off bots anytime they appeared above the roofs. A steady stream of people were making their way down the road and out of the city, and you could just about make out Wanda on the sideline, her red mist swirling above the heads of the standerby’s. A sudden burst of light in your peripheral had you swinging your scope to the left, lasers shooting into the sky from the very middle of the city. You could only assume that was where Tony and The Vision were facing off against Ultron. 

Updates filtered through your comms periodically, short sentences from panting voices on the ground. You had yet to hear from Banner or Nat, and you were starting to get worried. Gritting your teeth, you lifted onto your forearms and pushed onto your feet. You jogged slightly further up the road, the curve of the mountain granting you a view of Strucker’s base over the treetops. You lifted the rifle to your shoulder and looked through the scope, scanning the building for any signs of movement. 

Then the ground began shaking violently beneath you, the rifle slipping from your shoulder as you lurched forwards, grabbing on to the low stone wall for stability. 

_What the fuck was happening?_

Cracks appeared in the road, small chunks of rock falling from the cliff face above you. You swore violently, running back down the road as you were thrown side to side. When you reached your original sniping point, you screeched to a halt in shock. The city that lay beneath you was now almost on your level, the ground ripped from the earth and floating up into the sky, a giant metal contraption at the centre.

“Holy fuck,” you whispered, quickly pressing the button for your comms. “Umm, guys? Where are you going, and why are you taking the city with you?”

The only response was static, and you watched in horror as Ultron flew up to watch over the crumbling city. You gritted your teeth, mind cycling through your possible options. You refused to be benched this early in the fight, but you didn’t have a super suit or flying powers, and the only quinjet in the vicinity was on the floating island. 

A sudden roar from your left had you whipping your head around, Nat and Banner soaring through the air, the Hulk propelling himself off falling bits of rock till he collided into the side of the island, clambering up the rocks and tree roots. You pouted as they disappeared onto the island, pressing your comms to try again.

“Guys, I’m grounded, any chance one of you flying types can soar down here and give me a lift?”

“Shit, hold on, I’ll circle round when I can,” assured Tony, breathing heavily as a crashing noise came through his microphone. You sighed in relief, the feeling not lasting long as you had to leap sideways into a roll as a chunk of falling rock crushed into the ground where you’d been standing.

“Ok, no rush or anything, I’m just kind of in the splash zone for falling bits of city,” you panted into your comms. “I’m gonna head down towards the valley, there’s less chance of getting crushed down there.”

In retrospect, you shouldn’t have tempted fate.

You were jogging down the mountain lane, jumping over cracks from the initial shockwaves, heading for the side path to the valley when there was an ominous rumbling above you. A shadow loomed over the road around you, and you looked up in trepidation. On the very edge of the floating city stood a large building, what looked like a block of flats, and it was currently crumbling. 

Fear seized your heart as you realised what was about to happen. 

“Shit, shit, shit,” you stuttered, urging your legs to run faster, desperately pressing your comms. “Tony, I need the pick up now!”

A mess of voices yelling over each other answered your desperate scream, but you could just about make out Tony assure you that he was coming, panic in his voice. You tried to run faster, but there wasn’t enough time. Mere seconds after you’d called for help, the building was tumbling down towards you, debris slamming into the ground behind you and knocking you off balance, but you kept running. 

Then the main structure hit the ground, crashing into the edge of the road above you, tremors knocking you to the floor as the mountain cracked from the force. 20 feet from you, the road was caving in and collapsing, the break spreading quickly in your direction. You clambered to your feet and ran once more, but the rock slide behind you caught up quickly. 

The road beneath your feet disappeared, the entire mountain side breaking and falling to the valley below, and your tortured scream was quickly stifled as you hit the ground below, unconscious. 

By the time Tony reached the destroyed mountain, it was hauntingly silent. 

  
  
  



	5. storm clouds

“Tony! Do you see her?”

“I can’t find her! FRIDAY, search for heat signals!”

“Cap, we’ve got incoming!”

“We can’t leave her!”

“Spectre, come in! Y/N, answer me! Fuck!”

“I’ve sent an SOS out, search and rescue’s on their way but we have to stop Ultron! You know she’d never forgive us if we let people die while trying to help her!”

“The hospital’s still down on the ground, they can take care of her until our guys can.”

“Boss, I’ve got a heat signal, on the edge of the valley. Unconscious, but vitals are steady.”

“Oh thank God. FRIDAY, mark her location and get medics there this second. Ok come on, let’s deal with this son of a bitch already.”

\---

  
  


The sound of rushing water was the first thing that registered.

It was also the first thing you felt, cool water swirling around your left wrist. An intense headache throbbed behind your temples, and as consciousness slowly came back to you, you squeezed your eyes shut against the light. A wet cough caught in your chest, and you quickly leant to the side to cough up spots of blood. 

Groaning, you wiped your mouth with the back of your hand, dropping your head back to the ground. You lay still for a second, breathing deeply through a stabbing pain in your ribs. On a deep exhale, you slowly pushed into a seated position, hissing as the pain in your ribs sharpened. You had to lean on your hands to hold yourself up as you warily took in your surroundings. 

You were in the valley, right on the edge of the river, one leg in the water as you sat on the sloping grass bank. You pulled your leg out gingerly, rolling one ankle then the other and biting your lip at the twinge in your right ankle. 

Behind you, the entire side of the mountain had collapsed, and you thanked your lucky stars that you weren’t crushed under the rubble. Whether you’d been thrown in the air or rolled when you hit the ground, you knew that you were lucky to be alive. 

Your head was still banging painfully, and you carefully brushed over the back of your skull to assess the damage. Sure enough, your fingers came away sticky with blood, and worry seized you. The bleeding seemed to have stopped, but you didn’t know how much blood you’d lost - the grass where you were laying was covered in a thick film of red. Your comms were gone, your phone smashed to pieces, and the city of Sokovia was still flying high above you.

Judging by the position of the sun, you hadn’t been out long, but you had no idea of the situation with Ultron. You knew you couldn’t sit around and wait to be rescued. You steeled your mind, commanding yourself to stand despite the shaking of your legs and the pain that racked your body. You thought of your days in the academy, where it didn’t matter how injured you were, you got back up and carried on fighting because otherwise you were worthless, you were giving in to death. 

Clenching your jaw to stop from crying out, you cradled your ribs in one hand and took a few cautious steps. It hurt, but it was manageable. Deciding to head for the buildings that hadn’t been propelled into the sky, you started your steady walk through the valley. The only weapons you still had were the throwing knives strapped to your bicep, and one now-dented pistol that was miraculously still in the holster, so if the fight came to you the odds were certainly not in your favour. 

So when there was a heavy clunk of metal behind you, you swore at your misfortune before quickly spinning to point your pistol at the figure. You blinked twice, gun dropping in surprise at the man who stood before you. 

“Rhodey?”

Sure enough, the helmet visor flipped up to reveal the smirking face of James Rhodes. 

“Heard you needed a lift.”

You gaped at him in silence for a beat, before a laugh bubbled in your chest and you threw your arms around the man in gratitude. 

“Thank fucking God.”

He patted your back awkwardly, pulling back quickly to give you a once over. You could only imagine how bad you looked based on the raised eyebrow. 

“You ok to fly?”

“Uh, yeah, sure,” you answered in a confused tone, “but where are we going?”

He didn’t answer, simply snapped the visor back into place, picked you up bridal style, and rocketed into the air fast enough to make you yelp in fear. To your surprise, he didn’t head for Sokovia, instead flying in the opposite direction back through the mountain range. You must have been several miles away when you decided to ask if he was really going to fly you all the way back to New York in his arms when a shape on the horizon made the words die in your throat. A massive helicarrier was flying slowly towards you, and you gaped as you realised it was the ones used by SHIELD.

You were still trying to figure out what happened when Rhodey smoothly landed on the tarmac runway, thankfully managing not to jostle you. There were pilots and mechanics all around you, busy at work, and you couldn’t help but grin as Rhodey gently placed you on your feet.

Damn, Fury was good. 

Before you could ask Rhodey anything, the stairwell door on the left flung open and out came Maria and a medic carrying a folded wheelchair. The two strode over to you, the medic instantly examining the back of your head while you practically hissed at the invasion of personal space. 

“Glad to see you alive, Spectre,” Maria greeted, tapping away on a tablet as always. “As you can guess, Fury called in reinforcements to help evacuate Sokovia and take down Ultron. FRIDAY informed us of your location, and the team figured that they should carry on the fight and let search and rescue help you - don’t take it personally.”

You shook your head at the influx of information, jumping as the medic began feeling your rib cage. 

“Good, I’m ok to fight, I just need replacement weapons.”

“Dr Walsh here will check you over, and he’ll decide if you fight. We reach Sokovia in 10 minutes, if you’re going to be on the ground, be back here ready to go by then.”

Maria turned on her heel, marching over to talk to a cluster of engineers, and Rhodey excused himself to speak to Fury.

“Let’s get you looked at then, Spectre,” the doctor smiled kindly, placing the wheelchair on the floor. When you refused to sit in it, he merely shrugged and left it there, guiding you down the stairs and through a maze of corridors until you entered a large med bay. 

He sat you on the nearest bed and examined your injuries, silent and efficient. Over his shoulder, you watched the clock and counted the minutes you had to get back to the fight. You had a mere 4 minutes left when he finished the last stitch on your head, and you didn’t hesitate to jump to your feet.

“I don’t think you should be fighting,” he warned with a frown. “You have several fractured ribs, if you get injured further one could break and pierce your lung. Your head wound is deep, although no longer bleeding, and your ankle is heavily bruised. That means your reactions will be slowed, you won’t be as steady or quick on your feet - I highly recommend you rest instead of heading out there.”

You smiled a cocky grin, shrugging. “I can’t do that I'm afraid, Doc. My family’s out there fighting, and I need to go help.”

Dr. Walsh sighed and shook his head, huffing a reluctant laugh. “Yes, Fury figured you’d say that.” The older man disappeared round the corner for a brief second before reappearing, throwing a large duffel bag on the bed. ‘Spectre’ was embroidered on the side, and you grinned giddily as you unzipped it to pull out a tactical suit and an array of weapons. There was also a small metal case, which you unclipped to find contained a syringe and a vial.

“Adrenaline?” you asked Dr. Walsh, certain you recognised the liquid. 

“Yep, wouldn’t really suggest you take it, but as we’ve already established, you won’t listen to me. Fury said it was a thing you did back in the day, assured me you could handle it.” He smiled, clapping you on the shoulder. “You’ve got 3 minutes, kid.”

He turned and walked away, and you immediately ripped off your holsters and torn, bloody clothing. He was right when he said that you’d used adrenaline multiple times in the past, the Academy always teaching you to do whatever it took to keep you on your feet. The first few times, it made you violently sick, but nowadays - on the rare missions you still used it - it was just a bad comedown that left you tired and shaky. In other words, in situations like this it was totally worth it. It took mere seconds for you to fill the syringe and stick the needle into your thigh, and you were dressed and armed and running out the door in no time at all. 

Maria was waiting for you outside the med bay, passing you a comms the second you appeared around the corner. The two of you started jogging up the stairs, her explaining the situation as you went.

“Rhodey’s waiting for you up top, he’ll be your transport to the island. Helping get civvies on the ships is your top priority, we don’t know the full situation with Ultron right now. The comms will link to your team’s frequency once we’re close enough, so keep us up to date. Oh, and lastly? Don’t get hit. One more shot and I’m pretty sure you’re dead.”

Maria disappeared into the main deck of the helicarrier as you ran up the last few flights of stairs, the painkiller effects of the adrenaline beginning to kick in. Once you appeared on the runway, you were greeted with loud chaos as everyone scrambled to their positions, teams manning the rescue crafts. Rhodey stood at the very front of the ship, the heavy bulk of his armor towering over you as you stopped at his side. Your heart was thrumming in anticipation and fear as you looked from the plummeting depths up to the floating city. 

A buzzing filled your ears, your comms emitting a small beep as they connected to the nearby frequency. 

“I didn't say we should leave. There's worse ways to go. Where else am I gonna get a view like this?”

You smiled in relief at hearing Nat’s voice, the worry you had been feeling for them flooding out as you were finally about to be able to help them. 

“Glad you like the view, Romanoff. It's about to get better.”

You couldn’t help but laugh at Fury’s flair for the dramatic as he timed his response to line up perfectly with the helicarrier rising above Sokovia, revealing his rescue plan at the very last second as always.

“You didn’t seriously think we’d let you have all the fun, did you?” you called into the comms, smiling uncontrollably as you spotted Nat and Steve on the island in front of you, both relatively unscathed. 

“Nice, right? I pulled her out of mothballs with a couple of old friends. She's dusty, but she'll do.”

“Fury, you son of a bitch.”

“Oooh! You kiss your mother with that mouth?”

You laughed at the conversation between the two, relishing in the fact that Steve hadn’t looked away from you with those soft eyes since you’d appeared in his vision. As if he was aware that you were lost in your thoughts, Rhodey clapped a hand on your shoulder, face turned off into the distance, watching something you hadn’t seen. A collection of bots, racing towards the lifeboats currently being deployed.

“Think that’s our cue,” he sassed drily, barely giving you any warning before he locked one of his hands around your wrist and soared towards the island. He swooped downwards, dropping you 10 feet from the ground and leaving you to shoulder roll onto your feet as he swept off to take on the bots, Iron Man quickly appearing by his side. He’d dropped you in front of Natasha, Steve and Pietro, all of whom were staring at you with pleasant surprise. 

Lifting your arms up in a half shrug, you grinned at them. “Where’s the metal dickhead hiding then? I’m in the mood for some chaos.”

Nat shook her head with an exasperated huff of laughter, Pietro raising an eyebrow. But Steve’s eyes turned hard, a strict frown on his features as he stomped towards you. 

“What are you doing here? You were nearly killed by a collapsing mountain, you’re not fighting.” 

Your confident smirk faltered, eyes softening at his concern that, as usual, was shown through fierce overprotectiveness and heated anger. 

“Steve,” you whispered gently, placing a hand on his chest. “I’m ok. I took a hit, and i’m not going to lie to you and pretend I’m fine, but I can fight. And we both know I’m going to, so you can either accept that or not, it won't change my mind.”

Steve inhaled deeply, casting a wary eye over you as if looking for a good reason to manhandle you back on to the helicarrier. Then he heaved an annoyed sigh, cracked a hopeless smirk, and squeezed your hand. 

“This must be what it’s like dealing with me.”

With an affectionate smile, you squeezed his hand back before you both turned and walked further into Sokovia, Nat and Pietro flanking you as you stopped to survey the chaos. 

“Let’s get these people on to the boats while Vision and Thor keep Ultron busy,” commanded Steve, and the four of you immediately split up to seperate lifeboats, corralling the panicking crowds to safety.

“Come on everybody, let’s go,” you ordered, slinging the arm of an injured man around you to support his weight and drag him to the lifeboats. “Move it people, come on! Hey, no pushing!”

As the first load of lifeboats flew to the helicarrier to empty then circle back, you jumped up to stand on a nearby car, rifle raised and ready. The public were exposed while they waited, and you vigilantly scanned the roads for any signs of bots as you waited for the returning craft. In the distance you could see Natasha doing the same with her pistols, but Steve had already disappeared back into the fight. 

As Tony and Rhodey zoomed around above you, you sniped down a couple of bots on their tails, spotting the now-empty lifeboat heading back towards you. Taking down another few bots with well placed headshots, you jumped off the car and began ushering the crowd onto the boat the second it landed. 

“I got a plan,” Tony suddenly shouted down the comms, and you glanced up to see him soaring to the centre of the city. “Rhodey, get the rest of the people on board that carrier. Avengers, time to work for a living.”

You immediately turned and jogged in the direction he’d been headed, catching Nat’s eye where she ran a short distance away and shrugging. The redhead led you down a sidestreet and over a barricade of abandoned cars before clambering into the driver's seat of a construction vehicle. 

“Seriously?” you questioned incredulously, stopping to look skeptically at the scooper...thing. 

“What? It’ll shove the bots out of the way,” she replied innocently, starting the engine. “You’re welcome to walk.” She threw a pointed look at your ankle, obviously having noticed your slight limp. You sighed, but reluctantly climbed to squish in next to her, using your rifle to take down the bots that started swarming the closer you got to the vibranium core. 

“How bad is it?”

Her question was casual, and you knew she wouldn’t push it if you shrugged her off, but you decided it was easier to just be honest.

“Head wound’s deep, but not severe. Ankles bruised and sprained, but not broken, and my ribs are only slightly shattered with the tiny threat of piercing my lung. I also lost a lot of blood and I ache as much as you’d expect, but hey - could be worse.”

Natasha tutted at your breezy reply, swerving to run through a bot with a deafening crunch.

“Steve’s gonna kill you when he finds out. He’s going to resurrect and kill you again when he finds out you took another adrenaline injection to stay in a fight.”

“Maybe he won’t find out,” you shrugged innocently.

She snorted loudly. “Yeah, sure, because you’re so good at keeping secrets from him.”

You turned from shooting down yet another bot to glare at her, but really you knew she was right. You couldn’t lie to him - you didn’t want to. Still, you weren’t about to admit that to her. You were just about to argue when the team came into view, clustered in the old church in the centre of Sokovia. Abandoning the digger, you and Nat jogged over to join your team, where you smiled brightly at Thor as he took in your aliveness in glee. 

“Very glad you survived the fall, Y/N, hope you’re not in too much pain to destroy some evil robots,” the blonde grinned, clapping you on the shoulder with enough force to make your already-weak knees buckle. 

“Always happy to kick some ass,” you chirped, laughing overly loud to try and play off how the pain was slowly starting to creep back in. Just because you’d insisted on fighting, didn’t mean you hadn’t known it was a bad idea - but it was too late now to back out. 

As if hearing the mental cue, Ultron appeared outside the church, settling in the swirling dirt to survey your team. You were all gathered around the core, everyone prepared to fight at a second’s notice. The Avengers were ready.

“If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose,” Tony muttered under his breath, just loud enough for the team to hear. Ultron was still standing silently, watching, and it made the hair on the back of your neck stand up. 

“Is that the best you can do?” yelled Thor in challenge, arms spread wide in invitation. 

Ultron didn’t say a word, but a whole fleet of bots appeared from behind him, filtering in from the sky and the ground to converge towards you.

“You had to ask,” Steve sighed as you held yourself back from slapping Thor round the head for his idiocy. 

“ _ This _ is the best I can do.” Ultron answered, a smirk in his tone. “This is exactly what I wanted. All of you, against all of me. How could you possibly hope to stop me?”

“Well, like the old man said,” Tony said determinedly, nodding to Steve briefly before turning back to Ultron. “Together.”

With that, the room exploded into a flurry of chaos as the bots ambushed the team. Pulling your assault rifle out, you began to pick the bots out in heavy fire, flickering your invisibility and intangibility on and off as you fought hard. Some of them got close enough that you were forced to turn to hand to hand combat, knives in either hand as you fiercely took them down, ignoring the pain that was really starting to flood back by this point. 

The advantage of fighting bots as opposed to humans was that there were no rules about killing them, and so you let your mind and body fall back into the Academy’s training, where ferocity and efficiency were key. Everyone was giving it their all, and the number of bots were seriously depleted when Ultron was confronted by the powers of Tony, Thor and The Vision combined. You smirked as he began to crumple, not missing a stride as you shot a bot over Wanda’s shoulder, almost missing the slightly surprised look she gave you, as if she hadn’t expected you would save her life. You were right earlier then when you figured she didn’t trust you despite your words. 

You ducked under an arrow, dived over Steve’s punch and thrust your knife into the back of a bot’s skull, immediately dropping the body to turn to another. Nat hadn’t been totally right when she said you’d never be able to lie to Steve - there were certain questions he would never think to ask, and so you wouldn’t ever have to tell him certain truths. Like how much you enjoyed fights when the ‘no killing’ rules were lifted. It may have been awful, but it was how you were raised, and there were times you missed being brutal. This way, you could take out your pent up aggression on robots and Steve didn’t have to know the worrying thoughts in your mind - everyone was happy. 

A roar broke through the fight, and you glanced up to see Ultron being flung through the air by The Hulk. You smirked in satisfaction at the sight, shooting the last bot in your immediate vicinity in the chest as you watched the bots turn to try and flee from Hulk. As Tony called out to Rhodey to take care of the runaways, the team regrouped by the core, breathing heavy but all uninjured. 

“We gotta move out. Even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guys get to the boats, I'll sweep for stragglers, be right behind you.” Steve looked directly at you as he spoke, and you quickly realised that he was ready for you to try and argue about him staying so that he could throw everything you’d said to him in the past back in his face. So instead you kept quiet, huffing in disbelief. 

“What about the core?” 

“I'll protect it,” Wanda immediately answered Clint in a determined tone. “It's my job.”

As the girl glanced around the group, you met her eyes and nodded in respect at her selflessness. She may have been a mega bitch, but at least she was trying to make up for it. Gun at the ready, you turned to follow Nat and Clint back to the lifeboats, fixing Steve with a hard look as you passed, the warning that he better stay safe and get back on the helecraft clear in your eyes.

The three of you jogged back to the edge of the floating city, Clint thankfully picking an actual car this time. You hopped into the back, perching on top of the back seats and keeping an eye out for stragglers as Clint and Nat started discussing his next DIY project. You couldn’t help but roll your eyes in affection for the two. 

As you reached the lifeboats, you were relieved to see that the area had been cleared of civilians, everyone either on the helicarrier already or crammed on the final rafts. There were a few stragglers who you and Clint ran to help as Nat went to calm down Hulk nearby. The lifeboats were ready to leave when a woman began crying for her child. You and Clint immediately stood on the ledge of the boat, scanning the distance for the boy. 

“I got him,” called Clint, already jogging to a crumbled building before you could even turn in his direction. You were talking to one of the medics, doing what you could to help the injured when you heard the unmistakable noise of a quinjet. Glancing up, you spotted the jet as it turned in the air, making a beeline for Clint and the small boy. 

Heart in your throat, you screamed the man’s name, dropping the bandage and sprinting with all your might towards your friend as bullets from the jet began ripping into the earth. You could cover them with your intangibility if only you could make it before the bullets. You were close, but not close enough. The bullets rained down in front of you, kicking up enough dust that for a second you couldn’t see. 

You skidded to a stop, barely registering the quinjet soaring away into the distance as your breath caught in fear. The air cleared to show a car, flipped on its side and riddled with bullet holes. Clint and the kid crouched behind it, the man using his body to shield the boy. They were both unscathed, but you couldn’t say the same for Pietro. The silver haired boy was shaking on his feet, blood already pooling from the heavy fire that had ripped through his body. 

“You didn't see that coming?” he joked, a pained half smile on his face as he dropped to his knees, falling forward onto his front. 

You instantly fell to your knees by his side, rolling the younger boy over so he lay on his back, resting your fingers on his neck in the desperate hope of finding a pulse. 

“Fuck,” you whispered raggedly, predictably finding no heartbeat. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

You pulled back your fingers, carefully closing his eyes as Steve’s boots appeared at your side. Wordlessly, the Captain picked up his body, Clint picking up the kid, and you followed the two men back to the raft. You watched solemnly as Pietro’s body was laid on the ground, Clint dropping on the seats next to him. 

You collapsed heavily to sit on the floor in the corner of the liferaft, leaning your temple on the cool metal to try and alleviate the thumping. The use of your powers had drained the last of your energy, the crash you faced after taking adrenaline shots fully hitting you with the force of a punch. You were out for the count, ribs and ankle both crying in protest at the way you’d pushed them to work through your injuries, but still you waved away all three of the medics that approached you, telling them to help the citizens, not you. 

Despite it all, the sound of a massive explosion still had you jumping to your feet, watching in awe as the whole floating island began to rain down in chunks of rock. It was done, and you breathed a sigh of relief, sitting back down and closing your eyes. 

When the boat gently bumped against the helicarrier you sighed and forced yourself to stand despite the exhaustion, holding on to the side of the raft to try and stay upright. You’d only made it a couple of steps when an arm slid round your waist, almost lifting you off the ground as he supported most of your weight. You smiled at Steve in gratitude, slipping your own arm up to grasp his shoulder, letting him practically carry you from the helicarrier and over to where Nat and Clint were standing at the edge, staring down at the destroyed city below. 

The four of you stood in silence, taking in the aftermath of the battle. It wasn’t long before Tony and Thor appeared by your side to join your group, The Vision with Wanda in his arms not far behind. You watched as Wanda was placed gently onto her feet, her face hard but eyes full of emotion. You wanted to say something but weren’t sure what, ‘I’m sorry’ not even beginning to feel like enough - so you said nothing. It was several more minutes before Tony was the one to break the silence. 

“Anyone up for getting drunk tonight? I could do with a whiskey or six.”

The solemn mood was instantly broken, the team all huffing quiet laughs and sounds of agreement. 

“Come on Avengers, let’s go home,” prompted Steve, once again supporting your weight as you all turned to head down the stairs and towards the control deck where Maria and Fury would be. Once there, the team quickly dispersed, Clint and Thor sitting at the table heavily to rest, Tony talking to Fury about what to do next for the people of Sokovia, and Nat sat at a computer in the corner to try and contact Banner. Wanda had disappeared, presumably to mourn her brother in solitude, and your heart bled for the girl you barely knew. 

At Steve’s insistence, you were laying on a bench at the edge of the room being checked over yet again by Dr. Walsh. You’d insisted you were fine and just needed to rest, but Steve was adamant that you be inspected to ensure you hadn’t damaged anything even further. He had yet to leave your side, sat on the floor by your side and watching closely as Dr. Walsh finished his examination of your ankle to scribble on his tablet. 

“Well, you miraculously didn’t aggravate your ribs any further, which is a definite positive. Your ankle, however, went from two weeks of recovery to a month, so don’t come complaining to me when you’re bored of bed rest because I won’t be reducing it.”

You scowled at his jovial tone, knowing that you deserved it. 

“I've sent the examination results to Mr. Stark, so when your back at the tower they can be passed onto your medical team there. I’ll prescribe you some painkillers, but the best advice I can give is you rest up, and check back in with a doctor in a week.” He smiled at you, then turned to address Steve. “If you can, make sure she actually rests this time.”

Steve snorted. “You think she listens to me?” 

He threw you a wink as you spluttered in indignation, Dr. Walsh leaving with a shake of his head as he muttered something under his breath that you didn’t quite catch. 

“See, I’m fine,” you assured Steve, reaching out to grip his hand. 

“Yeah, but you almost weren’t,” he mumbled, brow furrowed as he ran his thumb over the back of your hand. Sitting up slowly, you tilted his face so that he was looking up at you from where he still sat on the floor. 

“I will always push myself to protect my family, no matter what.”

“Family?” he questioned with a wide smile. It was the first time you’d described the team as your family out loud to anyone but yourself - or Dr. Walsh. 

“Of course! Nat’s my sister, Clint and Thor are my trouble making older brothers, Bruce is the nerdy uncle and Tony is the family disaster.” 

Steve laughed at your description, watching as you played with his fingers.

“So what am I?”

“Well you’re certainly not my brother,” you joked with a mock-disgusted grin. “Guess it depends on what you want to be.” You felt a flutter of nerves as Steve silently mulled over your words, worried you’d overstepped. The worries immediately dissipated when he looked at you with those warm, sky blue eyes. 

“How about boyfriend? Or is that too old-fashioned?”

You choked down a noise of embarrassing glee, clearing your throat before replying with a wide grin. “Yeah, boyfriend sounds good.”

There was admiration in his smile, his free hand pulling you in for a determined kiss. Your brain shut down, no longer able to feel the pain or the exhaustion as all your senses focused on Steve.

“Get a room!”

You ignored Tony’s teasing yell, flipping him off behind your back as you sank ever deeper into the kiss, committing this moment to memory. For someone who had just survived a bloody battle against a murderous robot, you were pretty fucking happy. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it, I hope you enjoyed! I have more ideas for this character, and I won't restrict myself to following a movie plot next time, so that should be a lot more fun (and work). Thanks for the support!


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